By Greg Nikkel
Weyburn city council voted 4-2 in favour of allowing an outdoor rink on a city park in the Gordon Miles Place neighbourhood, with council chambers packed with children and their parents from the neighbourhood in support.
The outdoor rink was in place last winter as the personal project of Ryan Birnie, with assistance from neighbours, as he provided the boards and a Zamboni machine to put in an outdoor hockey rink in the park area behind the homes.
After concerns were raised by one neighbour about the lights and the level of noise from the pucks hitting the boards, public works superintendent Claude Morin recommended relocating the rink away from the neighbour’s back yard and changing the curfew time on the rink to 9:30 p.m. from the 11 p.m. time mandated by the city’s noise bylaw.
In response, Birnie spoke to council about the proposal, supported by the families and children from the neighbourhood, as did the neighbour who opposed the rink being located in the same place again this winter.
With the assistance of his neighbours, and 11 truckloads of water to flood the ice surface, the rink saw its first skaters on Dec. 5 and lasted through much of the winter, with 150 people on the rink on Christmas Day, and close to that amount on Boxing Day.
Birnie talked about ways they could try and address some of the concerns of the neighbour, such as bumping the rink over by about five or six feet away from the neighbour’s fence, and closing off skating by 10 p.m., and using mounds of snow to try and muffle the sounds of pucks hitting the end-boards.
He said if the rink were relocated as Morin was suggesting, to the south side of the park, the lights would be even brighter in the neighbour’s yard, plus he would have to completely dismantle the boards and rebuild the rink because the rink size was based on its current location, and could not be accommodated in that new location.
He answered two of the neighbour’s complaints from last year, including that the nets for keeping the pucks inside the rink were installed late, and secondly that the Zamboni ran very late one night.
Birnie admitted the nets were installed late, because they were delivered to him late by Amazon. As for the late-night ice-cleaning by the Zamboni, it was due to his inviting a class of kids from St. Michael School and having warm temperatures the day before. He had to wait until the temperature fell the night before so he could scrape the ice and put a new surface on it, and this was a one-time occurrence.
A neighbour to Birnie, Mark Missal, spoke in support by pointing out the lights face east directly into his backyard, more so than in the yard of the neighbour who spoke against the rink, but he wasn’t bothered by it. Another neighbour, Shane Pollock, said the outdoor rink reminded him of growing up, and added, “You can see by the support here today, it would be terrible to take this away from them.”
The neighbour who opposed the rink told council he was assured the rink would not be allowed to be in the same location again this winter, and said if it is allowed there this would be unacceptable to him.
“There are 3-400 kids who use that rink, compared to one person who has a problem,” replied Missal. “I think it’s ridiculous. This is Saskatchewan. We play hockey here, that’s what we do.”
Pollock added the comment that the home is located next to a park, so “you have to expect some noise, whether it’s kids playing soccer or baseball, or hockey. This is a park area, you have to keep that in mind, there will noise once in a while.”
Birnie brought out a decibel meter to argue against the contention that pucks make a loud noise. He said he tested the noise level of a slapshot to be around 87 decibels, while a snowblower registered at 110 decibels, and the wind on Sunday he recorded at 92 decibels.
He also had set up 24-hour video surveillance of the rink area, and said after going through thousands of hours of footage did not see any instances of a child climbing a fence to get a puck from the neighbour’s back yard, as was claimed.
The pros and cons of relocating the rink were discussed with members of council, and Birnie pointed out that the rink size as currently configured could only work in the same location as last year, but not if it was moved to the south end of the park.
Mayor Marcel Roy asked him also if it might be acceptable to have the rink located there as a compromise to alleviate the concerns of the neighbour, and Birnie pointed out it would mean a 150-foot walk to the rink from his garage, which he always made available to neighbourhood kids to warm up in or to have hot chocolate while they were out playing on the rink.
“So, it’s not ideal, but would it be acceptable?” Mayor Roy asked.
The mayor also asked Morin if the southern location might work if the rink stuck out partways into the alley, since it’s not kept open in the winter months. Morin said it could be done, but his concern would be for the drainage in the spring.
Coun. Mel Van Betuw said he could not support the motion made by Coun. Dick Michel to keep it where it was, but moved over by five or six feet as a compromise to help address the neighbour’s concerns. Van Betuw felt that the resident who raised the objection needed to have his concerns listened to and addressed.
“I think it is incumbent we talk to the him adn see if we can compromise,” said Coun. Van Betuw, who asked if the matter could be set over to the next council meeting for a vote to allow for some dialogue between the neighbours.
Coun. Michel said he didn’t want a delay, as Birnie indicated he wanted to begin on getting the rink staked out before the ground freezes up for the winter.
“We have to let those people know if they can proceed or not,” said Coun. Michel.
“I just can’t believe you’ll allow someone to put a rink behind a house that doesn’t want it,” replied Coun. Van Betuw.
“It’s for the neighbourhood children. If there were five or six people that didn’t like what’s going on, then I’d consider. Adults can do all the talking they want, but with compromise we can do this,” said Coun. Michel.
“I have mixed feelings about this,” said Coun. Winston Bailey. “We have a responsibility for all residents. I’m not opposed to this rink going in, but we’re not going to see any ice in until December, so I think we have some time.”
Coun. Jeff Richards said there would still be the opportunity for dialogue, but Birnie and his neighbours need to know if council will approve the rink or not.
“I think discussion after the decision is made is totally wrong,” responded Coun. Van Betuw.
The dissenting neighbour noted he at first supported the rink last year when the initial petition came around for it, but he changed his mind when he found how close the rink was to his property, with the noise and light pollution that came with it. To him, the best option was to relocate the rink to the southern part of the park.
Mayor Roy tried to convince council to defeat Coun. Michel’s motion so that a compromise motion could be made, and that a meeting could be held at City Hall between the neighbours to work out all the issues. In the end, the motion put forward by Coun. Michel was passed 4-2, with the proviso the hours of operation will end at 9:30 p.m., and that the rink be moved five to six feet away from the neighbour’s fence.
The City is considering a number of options of how to deal with the Queen Street rail crossing near Highway 39, and in discussions with the Department of Highways, the intersection of Highways 13 and 39.
For the Queen Street rail crossing, which has been cited as a safety hazard after a number of collisions there in recent years, three options were drawn up.
The first option is to close the crossing at a cost of $25,000. The second is for one-way access to the crossing from Highway 39, with an upgrade to the railway crossing standards, at a cost of $500,000.
The third option is for two-way access with upgrades to the highway and crossing, with a price tag of $1.2 million. After some debate by council, it was decided to investigate all options, including the twinning of Highway 39 from where the four lanes end to Government Road, with turning lanes for Queen Street. The initial cost estimate for this work from city engineer Tom Williams is $3.5 million.
Williams noted that in the meantime, the trees reducing the sight lines have been cut down, and the city can put signs up “that would be pro-active.”
