An out-of-area contractor has been hired to demolish the Pioneer Arena and has begun planning to start this work soon. The City of Castlegar has not re-announced this publicly since it is a short sighted and unpopular decision. A decision that can still be easily avoided by implementing a building maintenance plan and choosing one of many alternate locations to construct the new apartment building. Over 2,500 people have signed both online and paper petitions to try to get city council to reconsider and presentations have been made to city council to detail the catastrophic impact this will have to the community, but no meaningful dialog has occurred.
Plans for the new apartment building show that the arena becomes the parking lot for the new development. Projects don’t normally begin with the construction of a parking lot, but demolition of the Pioneer Arena will ensure that there is no turning back. It will be a tragedy of epic proportions to have a parking lot where a vital and active facility once stood.
Another tragedy involves the Casalano Club, which is a non-profit society that supports people struggling with substance abuse and has called the Pioneer Arena home for 40+ years. The club received an eviction notice from the city effective March 1st and has decided to dissolve due to the eviction.
Brandon Valley, South Dakota is building a brand new ice rink from scratch for $6 million dollars, but the RDCK estimates the cost for a second sheet of ice at the Castlegar and District Community Complex to cost more than $30 million dollars and we don’t need an ice plant or Zamboni.
The 28th running of the Maximum Ice Hockey Tournament is planned for February 28th to March 2nd at the Pioneer. The public is welcome to come down, watch a game, and say goodbye to the old barn. The Max Ice adult hockey group has previously organized this tournament, complete with a banquet and dance, for many years as the windup to the hockey season. This event has raised thousands of dollars, which have been donated to numerous charities and important causes in this community. Hopefully, Max Ice will find a way to survive and continue to play when their ice times are moved to midnight for two days each week with only one ice surface.
Without the Pioneer Arena, there are many other groups that will be fighting to survive including, all adult hockey with midnight ice times, minor hockey with early morning practices and cancelled tournaments, local businesses with significant lost income without these tournaments, the curling club without any parking, just to name a few. City council has decided the voices of voters don’t matter outside of an election year and that is also a tragedy.