Paul Kane students could have a free outdoor hockey rink on their doorstep as early as next fall under a new deal with Active Communities Alberta.
St. Albert Public trustees voted Oct. 27 to have administration sign a deal with Active Communities Alberta (a non-profit that seeks to build recreation facilities throughout the province) to lease the group land near Paul Kane on which to build an outdoor multi-use recreation facility.
St. Albert city council cancelled a memorandum with Active Communities in November 2020 that would have seen the city chip in $20 million toward a $42-million rec-centre in the city’s northwest. In March 2021, council signed a letter of support for the group to build a two-to-three-acre twin outdoor rink that could be used year-round, which the group proposed to fund itself.
Active Communities approached St. Albert Public superintendent Krimsen Sumners earlier this year to propose placing this site on board-owned land near Paul Kane.
The agreement, which is still being finalized, would grant Active Communities a 35-year lease for the rec facility’s land, which Sumners said in an interview is currently host to a baseball diamond.
The facility itself would be a refrigerated outdoor twin rink which could be used for ice sports in the winter and other activities the rest of the year, a report to trustees showed. It would have a roof, dressing rooms, and a storage area, but no walls.
In an interview, Active Communities president Matt Bachewich said the facility would be the first refrigerated outdoor rink in Alberta, though not the first in Canada.
“The ice quality would be comparable to an indoor facility,” he said, and the rink would include boards and glass.
St. Albert Public students would have free use of the facility during school hours, board associate superintendent of finance Michael Brenneis told the board. Active Communities could rent the rinks out to the community after school provided they followed all district regulations. The deal would not cost the district any money beyond the loss of this land.
Trustee Stanley Haroun spoke in favour of the deal, saying it would benefit both students and the community at no cost to the district.
Bachewich said this agreement was a major milestone for the project. Now, all his group has to do is raise the $5 million to build it — they have about $500,000 so far.
Bachewich said the group hopes to have the facility open by fall of 2022.
