Columns painted inaccurate picture of PMC: City
A response and rebuttal to recent Barrie’s Beat columns
The City of Peterborough has issued this response to Don Barrie’s Barrie’s Beat columns of July 27 and Aug. 18, 2018
A foundation wall holding up the ice pad floor in the Peterborough Memorial Centre is in an advanced state of deterioration and continues to deteriorate. It needs to be replaced or it will fail, damaging the floor and the icemaking equipment.
The Memorial Centre is a venue for major events such as concerts and trade shows as well as a home arena for the Peterborough Petes hockey club and the Century 21 Lakers lacrosse team. It’s also a community facility. Waiting for the floor to fail is not an option that is recommended by city staff who have consulted with a structural engineer and who have been monitoring the condition of the facility.
The floor failing would be much costlier and require a much longer shutdown period than if the city proceeds with a scheduled replacement.
Don Barrie is wrong when he states in his column on July 27 that there has been little or no additional deterioration over 18 months of monitoring. The structural engineer found that the foundation wall along the south side of the rink is in an advanced state of deterioration and continues to deteriorate. There was continued spalling and breaking apart of the wall over the last year, with the situation worsening in April when the ice is taken out and the entire area thaws.
It’s not possible to simply repair or rebuild the specific area as that’s where the pipes for the icing system feed into the floor and the professionals who handle these types of systems say the old pipes would split, with the split running deeper into the slab floor. The entire slab floor and icing system in the floor needs to be replaced.
This type of situation was expected. The pad was built in 1979 on top of the original pad, which was constructed in 1955. The Memorial Centre’s ice slab floor has a life cycle of 40 years, therefore it was in the city’s long-term infrastructure maintenance plan for replacement in 2019. The refrigeration plant for the icemaking system was originally scheduled for replacement in 2022. This is expected maintenance and replacement of equipment.
The summer is the lowest time of year for use of the Memorial Centre, which is why the city’s planning to replace the floor at that time, even though it is the time of year when the Lakers use the facility. Unfortunately, with the length of time the replacement will take, there is no way to accommodate the Lakers; city staff have tried, but it cannot be done. City council has asked the city to work with the Petes, the Lakers and the Peterborough Agricultural Society, which are the major tenants that would experience disruption through the required maintenance and staff are committed to do that.
A report will go to city council to provide an update on the condition of the facility and the planned repairs since the last report went to council in April 2017.
Some have argued that the city should proceed with building a new major events and sports facility, which early cost estimates have put at $80 million to $100 million, instead of repairing the Memorial Centre. However, one doesn’t necessarily negate the other.
Even if council approved a new $100-million facility today, it could take an estimated eight years for consultation, planning, design and construction. The major events and sports facility study that’s underway isn’t completed. And council hasn’t made that decision. If we get to that point, our community may still want to use the Memorial Centre in a different capacity.
Maintaining the Memorial Centre as the main entertainment facility is a key priority in the short to medium term. The city continues to address sound system issues as they arise as part of the efforts to keep operations up to today’s expectations and has made progress in 2018 to improve the quality of sound.
In regards to on-site parking for the Lakers around the Exhibition weekend, the Agricultural Society has certain rights for the use of Morrow Park. Morrow Park was given to the city for recreation and park use with special consideration for the Agricultural Society. The existing agreement with the Agricultural Society reflects that commitment. Every year, there is limited parking for events in the Memorial Centre that take place while the grounds are being set up for the Exhibition. The $2 charge for parking on the field this year is the same as previous years as parking on the field still requires operational resources.
In response to ushers at the Memorial Centre being replaced for security duties, a change that occurred requiring additional security staff to perform duties beyond the scope of usher and door staff due to the liability and security environment that communities are dealing with for major event and sport facilities.
A company from Lindsay, not Oshawa, is doing the security work. Ushers and door staff continue to perform traditional usher services assisting customers at the Memorial Centre.
A major events and sports facility is a valuable asset to our community for many of its residents who enjoy concerts, live performances, the Petes, the Lakers and other shows and activities at the venue.
It’s a community asset that needs to be maintained and managed as best we can for all these events.