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A non-profit group based in Mississauga wants to bring a park specially aimed at getting people outside during the wintertime to somewhere around the Mississauga City Centre area. Their concept calls for a $60 million winter recreational facility which would include a speedskating oval, an elevated toboggan luge, a hockey arena, rinks for hockey practice and curling, and a 1.6 km skating trail which they say is inspired by Ottawa's Rideau Canal.
Icepark Group Inc., led by President John Stillich, proposes to build the 8-hectare facility near the centre of Mississauga. Their vision is for the City of Mississauga to own and operate Icepark, with an admission charge foreseen of about $10 per person. While the facility would be designed primarily to cater to wintertime activities, it would be converted during the balance of the year for warm weather activities such as tennis, beach volleyball, biking and roller blading, and would even feature an open-air pool and areas for outdoor festivals and events.
UrbanToronto recently talked with Mr. Stillich about the Icepark plan. Stillich expects the proposal to be considered by Mississauga City Council sometime this fall, and he is optimistic that the project will proceed in Mississauga with the assistance of governmental cost-sharing. A contribution of approximately $20 million each from Mississauga and the provincial and federal governments would be needed to cover the costs of Icepark.
Currently, the Icepark Group is not pursuing funding from the private sector. Private sector financing would complicate government cost-sharing and result in an increase in user fees that would turn away potential patrons. It seems the idea is to make this as much as possible a public facility, thereby increasing access to fun cold-weather physical activities for people in the GTA.
For the moment at least, the Icepark Group is continuing to refine plans for the project, and trying to win community support. A random door-to-door survey conducted by the Group suggested that even with admission costs, Mississauga residents were very receptive to the idea of a cold weather recreation facility in their city.
Ultimately, if Mississauga City Council passes on Icepark, Mr. Stillich says he will look into building the facility in a nearby municipality. In Toronto for example, the suitability of Etobicoke's Centennial Park is being investigated. For now, fans of the Icepark project are encouraged to contact their Councillor in Mississauga, or Mayor McCallion, and show their support for the plan.
