The idea of a second ice pad in Petrolia is gaining traction.

Kelly Bailey and Lisa Vanderwal, who call themselves dedicated hockey moms, started a petition urging Petrolia to build a second ice pad. They say the growth of girls hockey is, in part, spurring the need for more ice time.

The pair took their idea to Petrolia Council Monday. Bailey told councillors a second ice pad would not only allow more ice time for public use, but also create opportunities for local teams to host tournaments, promoting fitness, family time, and community bonding.

They also had letters of support from the Lambton Attack girls hockey organization – which buys ice time in Watford and Brooke-Alvinston – and Petrolia Figure Skating which has had to cap its membership because of a lack of ice time.

And Bailey suggested the communities which surround Petrolia may be able to help with the cost.

Bailey asked council to organize a committee to take up the project and to apply for funding for the second ice pad under the new Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund. The $220 million grant program can contribute up to $10 million for new recreation facilities. It also provides cash to communities rebuilding old arenas.

Councillors were aware of the lack of prime ice time at the Greenwood Recreation Centre, but noted adding a second ice pad was not a small project.

“It’s time for us to take a look at our arena. Is it something going to happen tomorrow? No,” says Deputy Mayor Joel Field, whose father was on the committee which built Greenwood Arena, a project took a “number of years.

“I think that we need to definitely take a look at our own arena, because I’ve heard five years, 10 years, 15 years, for the replacement of (Greenwood),” says Field. He likes the idea of a committee. “If we move forward with the committee, it is for a community – it’s not Petrolia’s arena; it’s a community arena.”

“We took five years to plan a 150 party. I think this is a good time for us to start looking at what we’re doing,” said Field. “And let’s be able to determine is it five years for arena? 10 years for arena? and what’s the next stage? Because if we’re replacing our current arena, we’re not just adding an ice pad, we’re looking at a bigger project.”

In 2017, the town invested over $600,000 in the then-55 year-old facility. At the time it expected the upgrade would extend the life of the building 15 years.

Mayor Brad Loosley – a former figure skating coach – was enthusiastic about the idea saying the town had considered adding a second ice pad in the past.

Councillor Bill Clark, who said the lack of prime ice time was a problem when his children were in hockey more than a decade ago, says the town would have to build a new complex. The Petrolia/North Enniskillen Agricultural Society owns the property around the arena so any expansion would require more land to be purchased either at Greenwood Park or elsewhere in the community.

“We don’t own any property in order to make that happen. I like this idea, actually, of expanding to have an arena outside of Petrolia that is funded and and managed by all the outlying communities,” says Clark.

It is an idea that has been floated in the past. But, as Loosley pointed out, it has been difficult to get neighbouring communities, whose children use the arena, to contribute to the cost of running it.

“Some of the surrounding municipalities had a problem contributing $10,000 to our to our arena, which is a bit discouraging, because it basically loses about $300,000 (a year.) We don’t mind supporting that, because it keeps the cost of the ice time down for the users, and we want children and as many people to use that facility as possible.”

At Loosley’s suggestion, council asked the director of parks and recreation to look further into the logistics of upgrading the current arena and expand to include a second ice surface at Greenwood arena. The report back to council is to include information on whether the surrounding communities would be interested in contributing and information about fundraising.

Councillor Debb Pitel added “I really think it’s important that we embrace (the idea) and move forward.”

It’s not clear how much a twin-pad arena would cost in Petrolia. Several other Ontario communities have recently considered the idea.

Chatham-Kent has been looking at building a twin-pad arena for several years. In 2022, the municipality abandoned a $60 million plan for a stand alone centre. A private development group then suggested an arena as part of a $125 million Community Hub project in the Downtown Chatham Centre. The developers have since removed the arena from the project.

In North Bay, bids for the new twin-ice pad complex planned for the community came in at $70 million – about $20 million more than expected.

And in Brockville, politicians are considering scaling back a $41.3 million project to refurbish their current arena and ad another ice pad so it can take advantage of the province’s new Community Recreation and Sport Fund. The “half project” as councillors dubbed it, would still cost about $22.75 million.