One year after heavy snow led to the collapse of Fairview’s community arena last year, the city says it won’t be rebuilding the facility.
James McLaughlin, acting director for Calgary Recreation, said the city’s current practice is to build multi-sheet arenas, usually with other amenities, to save money and meet regional needs.
McLaughlin said the Fairview site cannot accommodate a facility of that size.
“Given the loss of this ice sheet we will be updating our arena studies to explore current and future citizen and stakeholder needs in the region,” he said. “The study will help guide future development, make best use of limited financial resources and maximize investment back into the community.”
He thanked the community partners at the Fairview facility for their patience as the city weighed its options.
Residents in Fairview will be consulted on the possible future uses of the site.
Nobody was injured when the rink’s roof collapsed on Feb. 20, 2018.
The exact cause of the roof collapse remains undetermined. An independent engineering report found multiple factors that may have led to the roof collapse. The city has asked for more assessment.
In the weeks after the collapse, the city had all of its other 41 rinks assessed for possible structural problems but none were found.
