The synthetic ice surface outside the CUplex is no more, at least for the time being.
The removal of the synthetic ice, which happened a couple of weeks ago, was a topic of discussion at the City of North Battleford Planning Committee meeting Monday.
The surface was installed in Rotary Plaza and opened early in 2015, the result of a financial contribution from Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs.
At the time, the synthetic ice surface, made out of durable plastic panels, was seen as an opportunity to provide year-round skating to local residents.
But according to Director of Leisure Services Bill Samborski, the synthetic ice has not held up to the weather conditions, making for a difficult skating experience for those using it.
Cold weather and snow has been an issue, but dust and wind have been problems as well.
“We really struggled with the weather there,” said Samborski.
According to Samborski, removing the ice surface had been something on their radar “for the past year.”
Currently, the synthetic ice is sitting in city storage. The intent is, once the main programming ends at the field house, they hope to remove a portion of the turf so “we have a little bit of ice and a little bit of turf,” said Samborski.
The thinking is by putting the surface in a more controlled environment, it might respond better to the skaters using it.
Another option is to sell off the synthetic ice material, but that is a last resort.
“I don’t want to sell it at this point, I’d rather find a solution,” said Samborski.
The field house would be a temporary location. As for the future, if a permanent indoor venue isn’t found, it’s possible they could try an outdoor venue again, but with some changes.
Samborski said what they could look at doing is to find a location and then look for funding for a board structure or some type of barrier that might help keep out the wind and the dust.
