Sparwood explores tiered refunds for cancelled arena ice

Sparwood will consult arena user groups before deciding whether to replace its 60-day cancellation requirement for prime-time ice with a tiered refund policy.

Council discussed the issue as a committee of the whole July 21 and directed staff to gather more information before returning with possible policy changes.

The District’s block ice booking policy requires at least 60 days’ notice to cancel prime-time ice without being held responsible for the rental cost.

Bookings cancelled within 60 days are fully refunded or credited if staff or the user group finds another renter. The original booking group is charged if the ice cannot be resold.

Weekday ice booked between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. is subject to a separate five-day cancellation requirement.

Council agreed to retain the five-day provision while staff reviews the prime-time policy.

Director of Community Services Jenna Jensen said the 60-day requirement was introduced after shorter timelines resulted in late cancellations, unused ice, additional administrative work and lost revenue.

During the 2025-26 season, 47 hours of ice were cancelled and one of those hours was resold. User groups held another 22.5 hours that went unused, leaving a total of 68.5 hours that were not fully utilized.

Jensen said late cancellations and short gaps of one or two hours can be difficult to resell or convert into municipal programming.

She said shortening the cancellation period would give user groups more flexibility but could transfer more of the financial risk from the original renter to the municipality.

Options presented to council included retaining the existing policy, reducing the notice requirement to 30 days or introducing a tiered refund.

The tiered option would provide a full refund for cancellations made at least 60 days in advance, a 50 per cent refund for cancellations made 30 to 59 days in advance and no refund for cancellations made less than 30 days in advance.

Council members initially differed on whether to retain the 60-day requirement or consider a tiered approach but reached consensus on gathering user-group feedback before making a decision.

Staff will ask why groups are booking ice they later cancel, how the tiered option would affect them and whether a different policy would make more ice available for public use.

Council also requested information on the cost of cancelled ice and the amount of ice used for public programming before and after recent allocation changes.

Jensen said no ice is set aside for District programming at the start of the booking process.

Local youth organizations receive the first opportunity to select ice, followed by other local users. Public skating and other District programs are then scheduled around the remaining times.

The discussion continued during the public question period.

Jenna Kaus told council the existing policy gives Elk Valley Minor Hockey little incentive to release ice it can no longer use because the association remains responsible for the cost.

“We’re not going to release what we have to pay for,” Kaus said.

She argued that a shorter cancellation period could return more ice to the public with enough time to arrange public skating, birthday parties or other activities.

Melanie Barker said skating clubs face similar uncertainty when scheduling assessment days.

She said a club may have to book ice before Skate Canada’s provincial section confirms that an evaluator is available. A response may arrive two to four weeks after a request is submitted, leaving the organization with ice it cannot use if an assessment day is not approved.

Jessica Slimmaker asked whether the District could consider exceptions for new events.

She said organizers are considering a small regional competition for younger skaters but the financial risk created by the 60-day policy makes it difficult to proceed before registration numbers are known.

Acting Mayor Amy Cardozo said the request could be considered during the policy review and encouraged organizers to discuss the proposed event with Jensen.

No change to the cancellation policy was approved at the meeting.