On December 10, 2015 the McCauley Community League held a community conversation at Sacred Heart Church about plans for a new building at the rink site. About 20 people came out to share their thoughts and dreams of what type of facility they would like to see at the rink.

There were two groups, with facilitators at each, to focus on three broad themes:

1. Neighbourhood vision: How might the rink building fit in with our neighbourhood and with other community amenities?

2. Needs and Uses: What other kind of uses could the building used for other than accommodating skating?

3. Type of Facility: What are we looking for in a building? We looked at four buildings that the McCauley Community League rink facility development advisory committee went to see and had information about.

Here are some of the comments that were made at the meeting (in point form):

Possible uses of a building: party space; cooking classes; proper place to change skates; not just for skating; other activities and programs needed; should be free to use; do not duplicate the space or programs that are already available in the community.

Possible features of the building: storage is important; space to have programs; somewhere to bring community together; washrooms accessible and open 24 hours a day; small building is good; meeting room upstairs; balcony; glass window to oversee Downtown; indoor/outdoor fire pit; energy efficient.

Dreaming big – thinking outside the box: consider reconfiguring the rink on site; move rink to land on vacant lot next to the rink; interface differently with 107 Avenue; build the building on 107 Avenue and move the rink north; two or three stories high; consider a mixed-used building: business, housing, meeting space; revenue generation from locating a business on the main floor; what about adjacent land: can we buy it?

Avoid duplicating existing amenities and assessing unmeet needs: don’t duplicate what is already in the community: churches, gym; complement existing facilities rather than duplicating; what are the needs of the people in the community? Do a needs assessment to identify unmet needs; already have Commonwealth Stadium Recreation Centre; don’t need to spend lots of money on a building; nightmare scenario: build a white elephant that isn’t used by the community and doesn’t bring community together.

Key questions that need to be answered: what needs are we trying to meet? Need to make a decision: build a basic building that is simply a place for people to put on skates or build a bigger building that also meets other needs? Residents need to ask themselves: what do I want? What are we willing to pay for?

Next steps: Undertake a needs assessment; investigate the potential for funding; investigate whether the City would allow for non-profit business to operate on the site; explore whether the MCL could hold a mortgage; whether a separate entity would needed to be created; could we receive charitable receipts? Involve more people in the conversation; do an informal survey asking the community what they would like to see; organize more tours of community league buildings; collect financial documents from other community leagues to better understand the costs of operating different types and sizes of buildings.

On Saturday, March 19, 2016 at the McCauley Community League’s annual general meeting, we will do a short presentation update, and ask the following question for a short discussion (20 minutes): What size of building would you like to see at community rink?

The full report from the community conversation will be available at the AGM.