A municipally driven business case has been presented to city council members which proposes closing of the I.J. Coady Arena in Levack.
It’s one of three business cases to reduce service-levels which have been proposed to help lower next year’s tax levy increase, and would cut $219,306 from the 2025 budget.
By closing the arena, subsequent years’ budgets would be cut by at least $337,828, plus whatever capital costs come up, including $580,000 in budgeted but unspent capital work. The facility’s 10-year projected capital requirement is $5.6 million.
City council members requested options to help lower next year’s tax levy, but the specific business case to close the I.J. Coady Arena was staff-driven. It would take a city council member championing the business case for it to come up during budget talks, which begin on Dec. 2.
“I’m hoping it doesn’t come up,” Ward 3 Coun. Michel Brabant told Sudbury.com.
Brabant serves the area, and said that although he’s still trying to wrap his head around the business case and gather more information, he wants the community to retain its arena.
“We’re down to the arena, which is in my mind the only community building for Levack,” he said, adding that outlying communities such as Levack “seem to be getting pushed away.”
“I understand it’s the smallest impact to ice allocation, but … what about community service, what about community support?”
He noted that the nearby Onaping Pool also appears to be on the outs, with staff arguing there’s “no rationale” to invest any further into the city’s oldest, smallest and least-used pool.
The average cost-recovery rate across all 14 municipal arenas is 64.4 per cent, and the cost-recovery rate for I.J. Coady is the lowest, at 22.81 per cent.
The average prime ice-time utilization rate for all arenas is 75.6 per cent, and the average overall utilization rate for all arenas is 61 per cent. By this metric, I.J. Coady is at the bottom again, with 35.8-per-cent prime use and 29.7-per-cent use recorded overall.
Meanwhile, the city’s elected officials are still trying to map out a future for the city’s 14 municipal arenas.
Last year, city council members resolved to dust off the 2013 Arena Renewal Strategy for an update, which has yet to materialize.
The Arena Renewal Strategy was to be part of the city’s Parks, Open Space and Leisure Master Plan update proposed for 2024. An associated business case was not picked up for the 2024/25 budget, so work has not proceeded.
Staff anticipate tabling a fresh business case for the Parks, Open Space and Leisure Master Plan during the 2026 budget process, a city spokesperson told Sudbury.com.
Early last year, city council effectively called to question the future of certain arenas by deferring more than $5 million of previously approved arena repair work, including a roof replacement at the I.J. Coady Memorial Arena.
A few months later, in August 2023, city council members approved $421,600 toward resolving roof issues, painting exterior sheet metal wall cladding and concrete block walls at the I.J. Coady Memorial Arena, which were deemed necessary by city staff. This was a cheaper, more temporary alternative to a fulsome repair job of $2,797,000, which would have included replacing the roof.
Complicating the future of some municipal arenas is city council’s 2022 decision to proceed with a new twin-pad arena in Hanmer, pending they get $20 million in funding from senior levels of government.
The new Hanmer arena’s opening is slated to be accompanied by the city shutting down four existing ice pads, including the Centennial Arena, Raymond Plourde Arena, Capreol Community Centre and Arena pad No. 1 (already leased out to a film crew), and one additional pad recommended by staff.
No senior-government funding has come in, so the twin pad project has not proceeded. At the city’s latest-available estimate earlier this year, the project’s cost has jumped from its initial $29.2-million estimate to $40.2 million.
The business case for the I.J. Coady closure notes that it wouldn’t count as the additional pad slated to close when the Hanmer twin pad opens, and that one additional pad would still need to be identified.
In the event the I.J. Coady Memorial Arena were to close, staff recommend it come into place following the 2024-25 ice season in order to honour existing agreements.
If the business case doesn’t come up during next month’s 2025 budget deliberations, Brabant said the Levack arena wouldn’t remain safe for long. As soon as the twin-pad arena in Hanmer proceeds, it’ll likely be on the chopping block again as an additional pad to close.
The other two service-level reductions proposed in business cases, which city council members would need to champion to come forward during next year’s budget deliberations, include:
- Move up the timeline for merging fire stations, including early consolidation of the Val Caron into Val Therese, Falconbridge into Garson and Copper Cliff into Waters. Although these consolidations are already approved by city council alongside a combination of extensive renovations and new builds, an expedited consolidation would take place within existing stations and infrastructure and only serve to save money; approximately $74,000 annually.
- Eliminate a driveway entrance culvert subsidy, at a 2025 savings of $169,192
Budget deliberations will take place in council chambers at Tom Davies Square beginning at 1 p.m. on Dec. 2. The meeting can be viewed in-person or livestreamed by clicking here. The meeting will continue at the same time and location for the following two days, as needed.
In addition to the three business cases for service-level reductions are 15 business cases for service-level improvements/changes, which Sudbury.com will highlight in a future story prior to deliberations. Like the other three business cases, a city council member would have to champion them for any of them to be brought forward for next month’s meetings.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
