County to help fund arena upgrades

Rocky View County councillors showed unanimous support in pledging $150,000 to the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre for a new dehumidifier, Jan. 24.

“We are pleased to support this request as this well-used centre will be able to provide year-round ice for recreation enthusiasts,” said Reeve Rolly Ashdown. “This centre continues to be forward-thinking and efficient in providing recreation opportunities. We are pleased to work with our neighbours, the Town of Cochrane and support this facility that benefits residents in both communities.”

The facility currently runs between 90 and 101 per cent humidity, roughly 50 per cent higher than most arenas in Alberta.

“Your ice tends to be quite a bit softer than it should be,” said Robin Mitchell, the facility’s executive director. “If it’s 50 per cent less humidity, you can have thinner, harder ice and you don’t have to run your plant as hard.”

With money saved on utilities, Mitchell said it will take about 13 years for full payback of the system, but it will be money well spent.

“(High humidity) is building all over our glass and you can’t see through it and worst of all, condensation is forming on the roof,” he said.

The roof’s condensation causes a rude awakening each morning when Mitchell and others have to scrape off “two-inch stalagmites” from the ice sheets.

Securing funding for the dehumidifiers has been a longtime coming, according to Cochrane area Councillor Paul McLean.

“It was probably in the original vision for when the facility was built, but they weren’t able to finance it,” he said. “It’s a user-pay environment. There’s not a lot of room for these significant capital costs.”

The facility serves more than just Cochranites, as Bearspaw and Springbank residents also make use of the multi-use building.

“We consider it a regional facility. I think there is a perception by people that it belongs to Cochrane, but it’s very shared,” said Kim Magnusson, a Springbank councillor. “I don’t see why we shouldn’t be putting money in there.”

The Ranch Lands Recreation Board supported the request and formally requested Council approve the capital funding.

A board of nine individuals and Mitchell run the 10-year-old facility. It houses three ice rinks, a soccer pitch, a running track, a gym and several multi-use spaces.

“It’s well used,” said Magnusson. “There are a lot of things in there that other facilities don’t have.”

The dehumidifying system will run in ice sheets one and three. Mitchell will wait to determine if another dehumidifier is needed for the middle rink.