February 8, 2012

Arena lands to be acquired for ice pad

Still uncertain who will finance a $10 million rink

Lacy Atalick

THE DEAL TO purchase the lands necessary for a second rink at Leaside Memorial Gardens Arena will firm up in the coming months.
 

Coun. John Parker has been overseeing this project for the past 10 years, and the city has just about acquired the land to build on.
 

“The Province of Ontario, as it happens, owns a sliver of vacant land next door to the hockey rink,” Parker said. Although the site has been purchased by the city, the deal will not be firm until the current tenant, the Ontario Film Review Board, has moved into its new facility.
 

“We’re not putting any pressure on them to move out because we’re not ready to start construction on a new rink,” Parker said, but added it is looking as though this should all occur in the coming months.
 

The city’s shortage of ice pads came to the forefront when the Leaside Girls Hockey Association wrote a letter to Mayor Miller saying they were discriminated against over ice access, sparking a city-wide debate.
 

Parker will begin looking for corporate sponsorship and community donations, he said, to raise the necessary $10 million for the arena, citing an arena in Etobicoke that was sponsored by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

This article appears in the February 2010 issue of North Toronto Post

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