Tuesday, September 15, 2009
'It's game on'
COMMUNITY CENTRE: Steel trusses and columns allow arena to re-open
After repairs, Community Centre reopens Saturday, September 19, 2009
at 7 a. m.
Edition: Final
Source: COLIN MCKIM, THE PACKET AND TIMES
Eight months after the Orillia Community Centre was closed for safety
reasons, the 58-year-old arena on Brant Street is open for hockey and public
skating once again.
"For an old gal, she's looking pretty good," says Dan Cousins, the
city's superintendent of facilities.
The old wooden roof has been reinforced with 13 steel trusses, supported
by 26 steel columns -- 13 on each side -- which angle up over the ice
surface from the second row of seats.
Four more upright columns -- two at each end -- bring the total to 30.
"The sightlines are compromised because of the columns, " Cousins
admits.
And the columns create something of a low-bridge hazard over the two
players' benches.
While the columns will obstruct views from the seats along the sides,
the views from the end seats are clear, Cousins said.
But on the whole, he is pleased with the $600,000 engineering solution,
which has bought the building another five years or more of use if the city
wants to keep it operating.
"There's great potential for this building still," he says.
After the building was closed on Jan. 14, representatives of the Orillia
Minor Hockey Association crowded Orillia council chambers demanding a
quick solution.
City council originally planned to decommission the community centre
when the multi-use recreation facility (MURF), which includes two ice
surfaces, finally opens.
But delayed for years by complex environmental issues at the brownfield
site on West Street South, that project still has no start date. The
emergency closure of the community centre left the city with only one ice
rink -- the Brian Orser Arena on Gill Street -- and a very angry hockey
community.
Under pressure from minor hockey and other user groups, council agreed
to fast track plans to build a twin-pad arena, choosing a site in west
Orillia beside the new Lakehead University campus.
That new facility is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010.
Council also agreed to reinforce the community centre in the interim to
provide ice time for the 2009-10 season and possibly beyond.
This Saturday at 7 a. m. minor hockey players, which has close to 700
players registered, will hold its first practices. Public skating, oldtimers
and pick-up hockey will all resume in the weeks ahead.
"It's game on," minor hockey administrator Susan Burnett said.
Next year at this time the new twin-pad arena, now under construction in
west Orillia, should be open.
"We're looking forward to the new facility," Burnett said.
Minor hockey president Cathy O'Connor says the building will provide
ice, but because of the pillars will not be spectator friendly.
"You'll see the puck; you won't see the puck; you'll see the puck..."
And if supporters of opposing teams all congregate at the end where
visibility is the best, tensions could be elevated, she worries.
"There's a potential for problems."
The $600,000 price tag is $200,000 below the $800,000 council budgeted
for the reinforcement project, Cousins said.
"We got an extremely good price on the steel through (Orillia company)
Nor-Weld Ltd."
The budget also allowed for the replacement of all the flourescent
lights in the arena with more energy-efficient tubes, Cousins noted.
"Everything's running top-notch now."
What happens after this hockey season is up to council, Cousins said.
Ultimately, the new steel structure could be used to support a roof
while the old seats and block walls are removed.
"It could be an open-air facility."
A decision also has to be made about 87 banners removed from the rafters
of the old arena, recognizing decades of provincial and national
championships in hockey and lacrosse.
The banners could be rehung in the new twin-pad facility or ultimately
in the MURF.
The building, which was built in a community barn-raising effort between
1950 and 1951 has served the city well in almost 60 years, Cousins said.
"The city got its money's worth."
Illustration: 1. COLIN MCKIM Packet and Times
Dan Cousins, the city's superintendent of facilities, stands beside a row of
steel columns installed this summer to reinforce the roof in the 58-
year-old Orillia Community Centre.