The Outdoor Ice Oval Society doesn't want to leave its hours of operation up to mother nature.
A $3.7 million refrigeration system would solve its problem: a season that shortens every year despite increased interest.
"Last year was our shortest season ever," Kathy Lewis, president of the society told council Monday night.
It was open just 55 days, down at least 10 from previous years. At its height, during the 2010 winter, the ice was cold enough for 97 days.
"What we don't have is consistently cold temperatures in the winter and that has caused us some grief," she said.
"We're facing a challenge with continuing to keep this facility open to the extent we would like."
The society pitched the plan to city council Monday night, asking that the project be added to the 2018 capital plan as an unfunded option.
The society can't reach out to the provincial or federal government for funding help if the city rejects the request.
The milder temperatures mean the oval is losing out on competitions.
During the Canada Winter Games, after one day skaters were sent to Fort
St. John's track because the ice had thawed.
This year, the BC Speed Skating Association moved the longtrack championships from Prince George because it wasn't confident in the ice.
The refrigerated approach creates "reliable and consistently high quality ice," Lewis said.
The city has a formal agreement with the group, but it wasn't clear how much the society would ask the city to commit, if approved.
The society plans to raise $500,000 to put toward the cost and also stressed the impact of volunteer labour - about 600 hours each season spent on ice making and maintenance.
The ultimate goal is a 12-month recreational facility and refrigerated oval, which would stop in-season thaws and leave the track open to skaters from mid-November to late March.
The year-round facility would also offer in-line skating, biking and roller-skiing.
There are seven outdoor ice ovals in Canada, Lewis said, two of which are refrigerated.
The society got three estimates and said the simplest put the tab at
$3.7 million for tubing and refrigeration, oval surface concrete and piping, drainage and electrical.
Coun. Albert Koehler said the request is doable because it would be listed as unfunded.
"We're not giving anything away yet," he said.
But Jillian Merrick, the sole vote against the project, noted a number of other buildings on the city's capital request list.
"In my mind there's a lot of other priorities the city needs to address," said Merrick.
Brian Skakun said he'd like it to be added, to see what else it would be competing against.
"There's not only a social and health benefit," Skakun said.
"There's an economic benefit."
"I'm not prepared at this juncture to say no. I think it deserves a place," added Terri McConnachie.
"That's the fair process."
Even as the days the ice oval is open has steadily declined over the last five years, the number of skaters taking to the track has steadily increased.
Lewis credited new structures - a 2,000 square foot service building and the heated Canfor House - as well as a new skate rental program for the increased participation, something the society predicts will continue.
While it didn't track numbers during the Canada Winter Games, this season saw roughly 150 skaters per day, a sharp uptick from the less than 100 that visited the year before the Games.
"I want to see how the funding unfolds for this project," said Mayor Lyn Hall before calling the vote, which earned applause from an audience of about 20 supporters in the public gallery.
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