City council reversed its decision to build a new stand-alone arena south of the Kin Centre on Monday.
Monday night's decision means the city will now proceed with a $15.8 million rebuild of the Kin 1 arena at the Kin Centre, as originally planned for the 2015 Canada Winter Games. In addition, council passed a motion to have city staff investigate the possibility of building another ice surface in the city.
"It's an extremely challenging and emotionally-charged issue. Clearly there is a want... for another sheet of ice," Mayor Dan Rogers said. "[But] I'm optimistic that if we roll up our sleeves, we might be able to look at this at the end of the Canada Winter Games."
On June 13, city council voted to proceed with a stand-alone arena instead of rebuilding the Kin 1 arena as proposed in the city's bid for the 2015 Canada Winter Games. In addition, council voted to form a working group to look at ways to reduce the estimated $22.2 million price tag.
Rogers used his authority under the Community Charter to bring the motions back for reconsideration at Monday's meeting.
Rogers and councillors Don Bassermann, Murry Krause, Dave Wilbur, Debora Munoz and Garth Frizzell voted against the stand alone arena. Krause and Wilbur had missed the June 13 meeting and Munoz and Frizzell had voted in favour of the stand-alone arena previously.
Councillors Shari Green, Cameron Stolz and Brian Skakun continued to support the construction of a new area.
"I'm surprised at the councillors that changed their votes," Green said. "I thought there was a pretty strong support for this."
For full coverage, see Wednesday's issue of the Citizen.
