A gallery packed with Penticton Minor Lacrosse members applauded the decision by Penticton City Council on Monday.
Lacrosse players and parents argued the city should follow traditional scheduling and remove the ice from Memorial Arena in the spring to make room for the association to run their season.
“I am a supporter of equal access to community facilities,” said Miranda Halladay, spokesperson for Penticton Minor Lacrosse Association, who, along with Chris Danby, PMLA president, made up the group’s delegation to council.
Halladay and Danby told council how lacrosse was a growing sport, with 20 new players added to their roster last year, and how the sport’s impact went beyond just the local players.
“Lacrosse is also 29 visiting teams that come into the community for every home game. We also host two to three major tournaments annually,” said Halladay.
The situation for lacrosse, which traditionally books space at both McLaren and Memorial Arenas in the spring, reached a crisis point last year, when they were informed that McLaren would not be available due to demands from spring hockey.
“We have been facing diminished access to City of Penticton facilities,” said Halladay. “There was no consultation on this decision whatsoever.”
That situation was resolved by using alternate facilities in neighbouring communities, she said, though that wasn’t an ideal solution, forcing some of the teams to delay the start of their season.
“The junior team had to play their home playoff games in Kelowna last year,” said Halladay. “So much for the Penticton Flames.”
But, Halladay said they assumed their needs had been recognized after consulting with the mayor and city staff.
“If there was to be any long-term change in the way facilities would be managed we would be consulted,” said Halladay. That turned out not to be the case, she continued, adding that in January of this year, the PMLA was notified that Memorial Arena was only available for three weeks in June.
Halladay also pointed out that there are some errors in the report presented to council by city staff.
“Our dryland user group was significantly understated,” said Halladay. By the metrics and economic impact model used in that report, she said, they have about 1,000 lacrosse players using the facilities.
City council voted six to one to have a dry floor from April to the end of June to make room for lacrosse.
The only holdout was Mayor Andrew Jakubeit, who argued for another option, removing the ice from McLaren Arena, allowing younger lacrosse players to use that facility while junior and midget players would be forced to travel to Oliver or Summerland and use facilities there.
That, said lacrosse spokesperson Miranda Halladay, would probably mean the junior organization would fold, since the revenue those teams generate by ticket sales at home games pays for their operations.
Lori Mullen, the city’s director of recreation, delivered a report to council with three options: leave the ice in McLaren and Memorial Arena, or remove it from one and not the other.
“I think option two is the only way for us to go forward right now,” said Coun. Campbell Watt, speaking about the option that would see the ice removed from Memorial in support of the lacrosse organizations.
“Clearly, having McLaren for hockey is the better choice.”
Coun. Judy Sentes supported Watt adding that council needed to make a decision quickly.
“Time is of the essence,” she said. “Their season is upon them, they have to move forward.”
Dean Clarke, regional manager for Spectra, who hold the contract to manage the facilities, said the decision might cause some of the spring hockey users to cancel their bookings, rather than transfer part of their operations to McLaren Arena. Clarke estimated there were 10 weekends in that time period where hockey tournaments were booked to use all three facilities: Memorial, the Okanagan Hockey Group Training Centre and the South Okanagan Events Centre ice.
Jakubeit pointed out that the Okanagan Hockey School is one of the most important users of the arenas.
“They are our biggest tenant and user of ice, especially in the off season,” said Jakubeit. “I think from Spectra’s perspective, their mandate is to focus on revenue opportunities.”
Jakubeit admitted that there was a communication gap.
“We are trying to facilitate a users meeting. We will also look into other models of a centralized booking or just a better sharing of information. So everyone is in the loop, and if there is going to be changes, it happens a year out,” said Jakubeit. “Not when it is panic mode, your season is about to start and you are told your venue isn’t available.”
