Residents on the south side of Okotoks might now have a reason to look forward to getting outdoors this winter.
The Town of Okotoks and the Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools (CRCS) have put together a proposal to build a temporary outdoor ice rink at John Paul II Collegiate (JPII) during the winter months beginning this year.
Susan Laurin, community services manager for the Town of Okotoks, said the Town was approached by CRCS about the possibility of building an ice rink at JPII for both school and community use.
Laurin said Okotoks has built and maintained a number of outdoor rinks, but what makes the JPII proposal unique is that it will be the first ice rink to be built on school grounds.
“We are following our procedures for what we’ve done with the other facilities,” she said.
The school will place white tarps near the basketball courts and flood the ice. The rink will be approximately one-third the size of a regulation ice rink, and will have no boards and no exterior lighting.
Okotoks municipal policy stipulated all the residents living immediately adjacent to JPII would receive a signed letter. There are 42 households within those parameters, and the Town needs 75 per cent of those homeowners to either vote in favour of the rink or not vote in opposition to the proposal.
The proposal would go to town council for approval in October, but Laurin said once it’s reached council approval is likely merely a formality.
Laurin said she’s only received one complaint with the resident expressing concerns with the potential for the rink to attract undesirables to the area.
Laurin said she’s not expecting the proposed rink to be vandalized because of the lack of lighting and said she’s expecting there to be little roughhousing on the ice due to the absence of boards.
The location of the school on Okotoks’ south-end also motivated the decision to build a rink there.
Laurin said the rink would benefit the nearby residents as it will allow parents and children to stay close to home and remove the necessity of driving to the Okotoks Recreation Centre, on the north side of town, in the pursuit of outdoor skating.
The costs for the project are expected to be minimal. The school grounds at JPII are jointly owned by the Town and the CRCS.
“We tie into water supply for the school, so water will be charged back to the school,” Laurin said.
The liability risks associated with the use of the ice are the same as any playground or recreational facility around the town, said Laurin.
JPII principal Mariette Moss said the students would likely have access to the rink during school hours.
“We’re looking at creative ways of using the rink during school time,” she said, adding the liability concerns of parents would be addressed with liability forms and the institution of mandatory helmets.
