Outlying areas of Greater Sudbury say arena closure would be 'slap in the face'

A new review of Sudbury's community arenas has some in the outlying areas worried about the future of their local rink.

Citycouncillorsheard this week that Greater Sudbury doesn't need two of its 15 ice sheets and they asked staff to look at building a new two-pad complex in the Valley, replacing the Centennial Arena in Hanmer and the Raymond Plourde Arena in Val Caron.

Just up the road inCapreol, Randy Crisp, the chair of the community action network,fears that could mean the end for his town's double rink.

He that would likely re-ignite talk of de-amalgamation, which he says remains in the "hearts and minds" of people in Capreol.

"Anything that the city takes away fromCapreolis kind of a slap in the face to say 'You don't need it out there, we'll take it,'" says Crisp.

'A community service'

The aging roster of arenas, most of which were built in the early 1970s, has been on the radar for city staff for a number of years.

In 2013, staff proposed closing the I.J. Coady Memorial Arena in Levackand the Chelmsford Arena and replacing them with a new two-pad in Chelmsford.

But after outrage from people in Levack, council instead voted to keep their arena open and spend millions to repair the rink in Chelmsford.

Since then DanielleLandryand her neighbours have been raising thousands of dollars every year to buy extra ice time.

"I mean it's always in the back of our minds, so that's why we continue doing our fundraising and our whole goal is to book as much ice as possible for the kids, so it shows that we're using our arena as much as we possibly can," she says.

Carrie Morin, the president of the Onaping Falls Recreation Committee, hopes that city staff will focus on more than dollars and cents when they report back to council on the community arenas this fall.

"It should be more community minded and a community service. We pay taxes to these arenas," she says.

"As long as they don't touch Levack we're happy."