As you may already know, our curling facility is in partnership with the City of Abbotsford. We lease the land and building from the City and we are responsible for the maintenance of the building interior and ice plant. Last week, the City launched a community survey online through their website and are looking for feedback from our members and the residents of Abbotsford on their Draft Arena Strategy.
Basically, the City has taken an inventory of all arena facilities in Abbotsford and their age, capacity, and long-term demand for activities. The area population is approximately 160,000 and the City is predicting that it will increase to 200,000 over the next 20 years. Significant investment will be required over this period to meet an increased demand.
Our Curling Club has a vested interest in the City’s plans for the future. At this time our Board is requesting that you participate in the City’s survey. It is only 8 questions and should only take 5 – 10 minutes. We believe that it is important that we have as many participants as possible do the survey.
Begin by going to the City website letstalkabbotsford.ca and click on Arena Strategy – Survey. There you will see the basic strategy stages and the 9 action plans. For more information I recommend that you click on “Draft Arena Strategy”. This is very interesting background reading with lots of photos. Pay particular attention to pages 19 – 21 as there you will see how immediate, medium-term and long-term strategies for future curling are addressed. Curling is certainly one of the major components of the strategy.
Next, go back to the Arena Strategy page and click on “Take Survey” at the bottom of the page. You then have to “Register” (or “Sign In” if already registered for Let’s Talk Abbotsford).
The deadline for submitting the survey is January 17, 2023. So please find a bit of time between all the Christmas and New Year festivities to provide your feedback to the City of Abbotsford.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Good Curling in the New Year!
David Primrose,
President