St. Albertans will have more options to ice skate in the city as early as this winter.
On Monday, St. Albert city council unanimously passed three motions from Mayor Cathy Heron to construct freezeway loops in two local parks and hire a consultant to look into potentially opening up skating opportunities on the Sturgeon River in the future. A freezeway is a frozen skating trail that is flooded on land.
A freezeway at Lions Park should be able to be built by early January, pending weather conditions, according to the city.
"We anticipate each one will take about 10 days to get fully serviceable to the public," said Louise Stewart, city's parks and open spaces operations manager, speaking to council on Dec. 21.
The idea came from the city's COVID-19 Recovery Task Force, Heron said in an interview. The 10-member committee had talked about the need for spontaneous outdoor recreation during the pandemic. While skating on the Sturgeon River may not be possible, opening up a freezeway this winter is easily doable.
"I put it on my Facebook page today and people are so excited, somebody said they're about to cry – people are so happy about an $8,000 investment and it makes me happy," Heron said. "Sometimes big things come in small packages.
"Even if restrictions don't ease up, your family can still go out as a cohort and skate on the ice. This is just one more option that I think is going to be good for everyone's mental health."
Before storm outfalls were installed in the Sturgeon River, Heron said she remembers being able to skate on the river when she was young, playing curling with frozen coffee cans. While skating on the river is unsafe today, the city could explore other ways to make it happen.
"That was something all St. Albertans could do in the winter, so it would be nice to bring that back. It probably won't be in front of city hall because there are so many storm outfalls, but it could work further down by Rotary Park."
Coun. Ken MacKay said he was supportive of the project, as getting a freezeway open at Lions Park this winter to start is something the city could do quickly and easily for residents.
"It allows us to spread out the availability of ice and gets more people outside, and I think this would be a fantastic idea," MacKay said.
Coun. Natalie Joly said she was "delighted" with the motions, and had no concerns about learning curves as freezeways are widely used in the region. Coun. Jacquie Hansen said she thought the freezeways would be "really well received," and "such a lovely way to spend time with your family."
The city will spend $8,000 to construct a small looped skating path in Lions Park, set to open this winter. Another $34,000 will be used to build a second skating path in Rotary Park for next winter. A consultant specializing in ice structures on natural ice surfaces will be hired next year for $11,000 to assist the city to design and implement skating on the Sturgeon River in 2022. The total $53,000 will be funded through the city's stabilization reserve.
