City council approves to relocate curlers from Roseland new rink location still up for debate

After a lengthy discussion, the curlers at Roseland Golf and Curling Club will be moved to a new home, but the location is still up for debate.

During Tuesday's Windsor city council meeting, a number of delegates and curlers attended the meeting to see what the future of the facility was. 

Three options were presented: Option 1.a. would be to renovate the existing clubhouse and curling area which would cost between $12.5-million and $15-million. Option 1.b. would be to demolish the existing clubhouse only and renovate the curling area which would cost between $8.5-million and $9.3-million. Option 2 would be to build a new stand-alone curling rink facility at Roseland at a cost between $9-million and $12-million. And Option 3, which was recommended by Administration, would be to relocate curling to an existing recreation facility in the city at a cost of $525,000. 

Administration recommended the WFCU Centre as the preferred location based on the responses from the public survey, the amount of available open prime time ice, as well as the existing or potential amenities that could be offered.

After many delegates spoke on how Roseland is home to curlers, and delegates from local hockey and figure skating associations spoke on how this would negatively impact their ice time, as well as the curlers ice time, council decided to approved Option 3. 

Ward 8 councillor Gary Kaschak put forward the motion to approve the recommendation, however, added to defer the decision on what rink curling goes to until a future meeting of council. 

Ward 6 councillor Jo-Anne Gignac requested a friendly amendment to see if a private enterprise would be interested in offering curling in the city, and the amendment was approved. The motion passed with only councillors Fred Francis and Jim Morrison opposing the motion. 

Terry Fink, a member of the Future of Curling in Windsor-Essex committee, says he's glad there will still be discussion on where the curlers will be moved.

"If we go to the rink-side of it for curling then the debate is still open and under review for which hockey rink it will go at."

Francine Stadler, President of Sun Parlour Female Hockey Association, says she's disappointed, and has a bad feeling the curlers will still be moved to the Grenon ice pad at the WFCU Centre.

"I think it's camouflaging the true issue. They're going to speak to different arenas, and I really think that they're going to end up picking the same arena just because of the location and how new it is."

A number of delegates and curlers attended the city council meeting to see what the future of the Roseland Golf and Curling Club facility was. August 8, 2023 (Photo Credit: Courtesy of AM800's Meagan Delaurier)

Fred Francis, ward 1 city councillor, says it doesn't make sense to displace other ice users such as hockey, figure skaters, and others.

"That doesn't make sense to me. Let's just keep curling where it's at at Roseland, build a facility that suits curling, build a facility that suits golf that's significantly smaller than the 50,000 square foot that's there now, and it's a win-win. And you're not affecting the system, you're not affecting the ice system in the city."

Francis adds that he fears the loss of recreational facilities and activities throughout the city.

"Once you remove recreational facilities from Roseland, what's next? And one of my fears is, and I've heard this from city councillors, 'well, why don't we just sell it? Why are we in the golf business?', and that scares me. So, once you start removing recreational facilities, what's next? The golf course? I hope not, I would never support that."

Jim Morrison, ward 10 city councillor, says he voted with his heart on this item. 

"I had a curler call me last week and he said, 'I'm really concerned about looking like we're the bad guys here, that we're going to displace youth skaters, figure skaters, hockey players, from other arenas. And I was really impressed by that comment because curlers are great people, but it did show that there's a lot of other users that we have to consider."

Gary Kaschak, ward 8 city councillor, says the Roseland building is in bad shape. 

"It needs big time money put into it, and I don't think throwing good money against a 45-year-old building is a way to go. I wanted to accommodate the curling community, and we know we've got some surplus ice. I made that little but of a change there to not recommend the Grenon arena, let's have a little bit more consultation about that and get it right."

Four of the city's arena facilities were considered including Adie Knox Herman Arena, Capri Pizzeria Complex, Forest Glade Arena, and WFCU Centre.

Despite Administration recommending the WFCU Centre, councillor Morrison says that Capri Pizzeria Complex was the most preferred option by curlers, and he says he will work to ensure that remains a possibility.

The report on which rink the curlers will be moved to will come back to council at a later date.