Bothwell Arena On The Chopping Block
Bothwell Area Sports Centre – Photo from Chatham-Kent.ca
In order to meet this goal, several service reductions will be required across Chatham-Kent, including the closure of Bothwell Arena, otherwise known as the Bothwell Area Sports Centre.
In January of 2014, Chatham-Kent’s director of Community Services – Recreation Facilities presented a report to Chatham-Kent’s council siting Bothwell Arena as the most unused facility in Chatham-Kent, with 56.7% of available ice time left vacant.
“A decrease in full rate minor rentals in Bothwell has been experienced due to the merger between Bothwell and Glencoe minor hockey organizations,” read the report.
The merger mentioned occurred in 2012 when enrolment in both Bothwell and Glencoe’s minor hockey organizations had reached a level to which neither were viable alone. They now compete as the Southwest Minor Hockey Association and Southwest Bullets moniker.
Currently the Southwest Bullets utilize both the Bothwell Area Sports Centre and Glencoe Arena, but would be force to utilize only Glencoe should Bothwell’s arena fall victim to this round of budget cuts.
Currently, other organizations utilizing Bothwell Area Sports Centre include figure skating, the Chatham-Kent Cyclones, and the Bothwell Men’s League, among others, all which would be recommended to move to surrounding communities both in, and outside of, Chatham-Kent.
Chatham-Kent will host three budget community open houses to answer questions, and inform citizens of the budget proceedings. They will take place January 19 in Wallaceburg, January 20 in Tilbury, and January 21 in Chatham, before the official Budget Committee Deliberations begin January 26, 2016.
Maybe if it wasn’t so expensive to rent the ice in bothwell it would get used more.
Totally agree… CK ice rentals are much higher than the surrounding areas. This is why Southwest Minor Hockey (Glencoe/Bothwell combined) utilizes the Glencoe arena much more than Bothwell.
Here’s an idea, close one of the Chatham rinks and make them travel several miles to take their kids to play hockey.
My question is why is there no public forum happening in the community that is impacted by the cut- ie Bothwell. The Bothwell arena was fully bought and paid for by the Bothwell community AND was making a profit until amalgamation with Chatham-Kent in 1998. The continued waste and mismanagement of small town limited, valuable resources needs to be fully accounted for. The municipality is literally killing the sustainability of its small communities. There are many aspects that could be incorporated into the arena that would enhance our community. Part of the issue with arena use was the significant increase in rates. Rural Kent needs to be looked at with creativity and ingenuity that rural residents are skilled at not from urban “masterminds” who have no clue.
You wouldn’t expect Chatham residents to drive to Bothwell now would you? I see there is a forum in Wallaceburg despite the fact there are no proposed cuts there. I’m sure the turnout will be negligible, but that’s probably their strategy. A forum should take place in Bothwell or maybe Thamesville but the budget committee surely doesn’t want to be bothered by those affected by their cuts. We could call it a farewell tour to our facilities.
Get a few car loads, and go to the first meeting. They do listen and take consideration to those who show and speak up.
I will be heading to the Chatham meeting and have room for 4 more! This isn’t the time to get a hate on towards C-K or anyone else, but a time to show council how necessary the arena is to the region.
Well said! Give it back to the community of Bothwell! I’m sure a board of citizens would be willing to run it.
Your facts are incomplete. Kent County Phillies organization also uses the arena and an over 35 men’s league and over 35 women’s league.
Hi Millar, that’s why when we listed the organizations we put “among others.” There were several organizations listed in the Municipality’s report. I do however believe CK did not have the Fillies listed as a tenant.
So not even 6 years after expanding the dressing room for the cost of $400,000, they are going to moth ball this rink! Another great brain storming session by council!! Gee that dressing room expansion would have done wonder for memorial arena!
It would be a shame to close Bothwell arena. As mentioned in one of the other comments, it was built and paid for by area residents. My children grew up using the arena. First for figure skating and then for hockey. Since the amalgamation to Chatham Kent, a lot of things in rural Kent seem to be forgotten (or ignored). Steve Pinnsonault seems to be one of the only people on council who cares about that and he is limited as to what he can do (alone). Maybe people in the city limits should be made to travel. Some of the county is nice to see. It shouldn’t always be about Chatham. By the way, I live in Chatham.
Find it amusing that the meetings take place minimum of 30 minutes drive time to attend a meeting that concerns the residents and businesses of Bothwell. The meeting should take place RIGHT HERE. Chatham is obviously not concerned with the well being of our little town and has no problem making it a ghost town to further it’s own agenda……..We need to vote in young leader’s to our political table because it is obvious that this administration is hell bent on crippling our community
The meetings are always in the same communities. It has nothing to do with where they are proposing cuts. The vast majority of the budget is not about cuts, rather about where they will spend.
So in 2 years when Chatham decides it doesn’t have enough ice for the crowd, will Chatham get another new arena???
Although the priority is first to keep the Bothwell Arena open, moving forward there should be a 2-tiered pricing system initiated to make all of our C-K facilities more viable and competitive. If rinks in smaller centres like Bothwell, Ridgetown, Dresden, Wheatley, and even Tilbury charged less for their ice you would see a dramtic increase in users.
I’m sure there are numerous ice users in our larger communities who would jump at the chance for prime Saturday afternoon ice instead of having their church group play on Wednesday at midnight! When price is universal across C-K, location becomes the most relevant factor. It’s no wonder the smaller communities can’t compete with our larger centres.
Why do you think so many people flock to Moraviantown for gas when there could be numerous gas stations closer to their home??? It’s the same principle!
Does this mean that the recreation dept, has no plan to send ice time users in Chatham, to Bothwell to optimize use times? Will council close Bothwell arena and then ask us to kick in tax dollars to build ANOTHER arena in Chatham? If council wasn’t spending millions of our tax dollars on projects like a dead railway, maybe we could maintain our public facilities with more fairness and consideration?