A win for the west Windsor community.
The ice rink and pool at Adie Knox Arena will remain open despite a recommendation to close them in the city's new 20-year Recreation Master Plan.
Ward 2 councillor Fabio Costante made the motion and says the closure would have left a gaping hole in the neighbourhood.
"Adie Knox is an iconic space in our city. I think we all can identify with Adie Know at some point in our lives if we grew up in Windsor. Windsor Minor Hockey considers it their home and the pool is very, very well used by not just folks in the community in the west end, but across the region."
He says the facility is one of the most used in the city.
"When we look at the comparable pools and ice pads, it's better than all of them. I think what the consultants tried to illicit was that we have too many pools and too many ice rinks, so let's just close this one without giving too much consideration to the actual usage of the site and, more importantly, to the neighbourhood that it's actually located in."
Windsor city councillor Fabio Costante on May 6, 2019 (Photo by AM800's Zander Broeckel)
Costante says he's thankful for council's support.
"It's a good signal to the community that council believes in over investing in some of our neighbourhoods including on the west side. Not only did we make a decision to not close the pool and the ice rink, but also to explore the opportunities for other services like the track and the gym and the recreation centre."
The report states rink time could have been shifted to other facilities as there's 72 surplus ice hours across the city each week, but Windsor Minor Hockey Association interim president Josh Pinese says that just wouldn't work.
"I brought the ice logs with me because I truly wanted somebody to point out where you could move our usage. How could we do that if it was segmented? I understand that they have 72 hours of open ice, but it's not consecutive. We would never be able to do our programming."
He says he only found about the possible closure on Friday.
"I immediately reached out to the city to see where this Recreational Master Plan was and at that time it was given to me. So nothing was ever brought to my attention. It would be utter chaos because we would have four hours here, three hours there, it would not work. People would have to seek other alternatives by going to other hockey associations."
Windsor Minor Hockey Association interim president Josh Pinese seen on December 16, 2019 (Photo by AM800's Zander Broeckel)
Pinese is giving thanks to Costante for fighting to keep the arena.
"Councillor Costante had several good points that he really drove home to a lot of people in that room. A 94% usage speaks for itself. Ourselves, we invest $207,000 annually there. It's the absolute right thing to do."
Costante has asked for a feasibility study on the Adie Knox complex to determine the best path forward.
Council did approve the remainder of the 20-year Recreation Master Plan which lists 48 recommendations including the modernization of Forest Glade Arena and the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex and the development of an indoor turf soccer facility.