The City of Peterborough issued a statement on Monday (January 13) about skating on the Trent Canal below the Peterborough Lift Lock.
Although the city provided no specific reason for issuing the statement, it may be related to the fact that members of the community have been clearing areas of the ice for skating this winter, after the city announced in December it would no longer be doing so.
“The City of Peterborough is currently not maintaining a skating rink at the Peterborough Lift Lock,” reads the city’s statement. “As part of its 2025 Budget deliberations, City Council is considering removing that service as a cost cutting measure.”
Community members have been regularly clearing the ice of snow, and at least one person on Facebook has proposed flooding a section of the canal to improve the ice surface — activities that were previously done by city staff at an annual cost of around $100,000.
“Maintaining the skating rink at the Lift Lock has an estimated annual cost of $100,000, which includes activities such as regularly flooding the ice surface to create a smooth rink, snow clearing with snow clearing machines, and testing ice thickness,” the city states.
According to another Facebook post, Parks Canada has recently installed steps for access to the canal.
“The canal is a Parks Canada property,” reads the city’s statement. “While the City of Peterborough does not decide on public access to the property, Parks Canada has in the past installed steps for public access to the ice surface of the canal at the City’s request.”
One of the reasons for removing canal ice maintenance activities from the city’s draft budget, as cited by city staff in a report to city council during budget deliberations in November, is because operation of the canal rink has been limited in recent seasons because of mild weather.
As part of its past activities to test ice thickness at the canal, the city would post a green flag if the ice was safe for skating and a red flag if it was not. The city states the green flag was posted for 12 days in the 2021-22 season, for four days in the 2022-23 season, and for a single day in the 2023-24 season.
Another cited reason is that the city now operates an alternative outdoor skating rink at Quaker Foods City Square in downtown Peterborough, which the city mentions in its statement, along with the fact that the city “administers a neighbourhood park rink program that is provided by volunteers who maintain rinks at neighbourhood parks.”
As for a final decision on whether the city will no longer maintain the skating rink at the Peterborough Lift Lock in 2025, city council will continue its 2025 draft budget deliberations on Monday (January 20).
City council was originally set to approve the 2025 draft budget in early December, but requested that city staff provide additional cost-savings measures to council to reduce the currently proposed property tax increase of eight per cent to seven per cent.
City council will consider those recommendations on January 20, with final approval of the draft 2025 budget scheduled for Monday, February 3.
