Work has begun to prepare for demolition of the Pioneer Arena as soon as this facility closes for the current operating season, which ends the first week of March.
This devastating decision could have been easily avoided by implementing a building maintenance plan and choosing one of many alternate locations to construct the new apartment building project. Over 2,500 people have signed both online and paper petitions to try to get Castlegar 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 will be required to move out of its Pioneer Arena location by April 11.
Without the Pioneer Arena, there are many other groups that will be fighting to survive including 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.
Jarret Leason
Castlegar, B.C.
