The debate over the future management structure of Cochrane’s SLS Centre intensifies as the Town prepares to hold a public meeting in June that is expected to draw a large gathering of community groups that are worried about the potential takeover of the sporting facility by YMCA Calgary.
One of the groups opposed to the Town of Cochrane handing over the reins of the SLS Centre to the YMCA is the Cochrane Curling Club (CCC), which believes a YMCA management would shutter the club’s lounge and viewing area, the On-The-Rocks Lounge.
Kendall Waiting, the President of the Curling Club, said he knows the YMCA will not run a lounge, or allow an outside third party to run it, effectively cutting off a major source of revenue for the club. Waiting argued that the YMCA proposal, which was presented before Town council at a May 20 Committee of the Whole meeting, would not only damage the CCC’s finances and make it difficult to run bonspiels, but also hurt the community by taking away a beloved public gathering space.
“The CCC believes that the proposal presented by Town administration on May 20 is not, in our view, in the best interests of the Cochrane community,” Waiting wrote in a letter to the Eagle. “The lounge is a vital social space within the SLS Centre, and its closure would severely impact the CCC’s viability. We believe this would lead directly to the demise of a 112-year-old institution in Cochrane.”
The Town of Cochrane and Rocky View County (RVC) are partners in the ownership of the SLS Centre, and Waiting believes-- and hints that other SLS user groups also believe-- that the plan to handover management to the YMCA is financially driven.
The Curling Club, as well as other user groups, only learned of the details of a potential takeover at the May 20 meeting, which a YMCA representative did not attend, according to people who were there.
Waiting told The Eagle that the Town’s consultation process with SLS user groups was entirely non-existent and that there had been “absolutely zero openness and transparency” between the Town, the YMCA, and the user groups. “We found out last minute,” he said. “We thought that it was crazy that no one had ever contacted user groups.”
Whether or not YMCA Calgary views the On-The-Rocks Lounge as “just a bar”, the Curling Club argues that the social setting the lounge provides is just as important as the game itself, and its potential closure as indicative of what a future could look like for other user groups operating under YMCA management.
“The proposed path forward carries significant economic implications,” Waiting wrote. “It would shift local spending out of Cochrane and into Calgary, benefitting the YMCA at the expense of our community and economy…while the YMCA proposal includes ambitious financial projections for the SLS Centre, it lacks any substantiated financial backing or details and fails to consider the broader economic impacts on Cochrane.”
If the lounge is forced to close, the CCC will lose 25 per cent of its membership, Waiting said. That significant loss of membership would be a potentially insurmountable financial blow to the club, threatening its ability to function. “We feel these situations have not adequately been addressed by council,” Waiting said. “Without that social spot, we lose members.”
Waiting stated that if the CCC loses a large chunk of its membership and revenue stream, which would then in turn force them to cut back on bonspiels and hosting other events, new management could use that as a precursor for removing the curling surfaces entirely in favour of another hockey rink.
“A new operator would look at this and say, ‘well, we can turn this into a rink,’ which it was designed for, and that would be the end of the club and the end of curling in Cochrane as a result,” Waiting said.
At the end of his letter, Waiting added, “In our view, the continuation of On the Rocks Lounge is a clear and non-negotiable condition when considering whether a third party should assume operational control of SLSC.”
On Monday, Town council voted unanimously to hold a public meeting on June 11, where it is expected that user groups, including the Curling Club, will make their case to councillors for why they should oppose the YMCA’s planned management takeover of the SLS Centre.
