Markham to ban skating on Toogood pond

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 10, 2015
By Amanda Persico

The days of skating outdoors on local ponds seem to be melting away.

Last week, it was announced a local treasure, Cedarena, will not open this season.

This week, Markham’s general committee voted 6-4 to prohibit skating on Toogood Pond in Unionville.

“This is a picture of doom and gloom for Toogood,” said Unionville resident Wes Rowe, who has lived across from the pond for close to three decades. For years, he’s watched local youth clear the ice and skate around.

Toogood Pond is too unsafe to permit skating, said city operations director Barb Rabicki.

“It’s a different pond now and Markham is a different municipality,” she said.

One concern is the varying depths of the pond, which is estimated to be about 5 metres deep in some spots.

There’s also the changing composition of local waters as a result of urbanization - more salt used on more roads.

Salt from the runoff ends up in local natural and stormwater ponds, lowering the freezing point.

“Just because it’s -1C doesn’t automatically mean you have ice,” deputy mayor and Regional Councillor Jack Heath said. “It doesn’t work that way anymore. And salt isn’t the only contaminant either.”

The number of ideal skate days is shrinking due to warmer winters and warmer weather.

In the short span of less than 10 years, Canada has seen top three warmest winters in the past century.

Frigid temperatures felt last winter are predicted to be an anomaly going forward.

And despite record breaking cold temperatures last winter, a woman still broke through the ice on the Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa, Rabicki said.

“Even under ideal cold temperatures, there is no safe ice,” she said.

“We think of someone falling through the pond and drowning with water over their head,” Rabicki said. “Even if you are immersed to the neck, hypothermia can set in and drowning can occur.”

Not clearing the ice surface is one thing. Banning skating on the pond all together is another issue, area Councillor Don Hamilton said.

“We can’t tell residents not to use property they own, they pay for maintenance,” he said. “That’s like saying residents can’t use a sidewalk or cross the road. Unless you have armed guards and arrest residents for trespassing, you’re not going to stop people from using the pond.”

Prior to the ice storm a few years ago, the city cleared snow from a portion of the pond and used a flag system to warn skaters of the ice conditions. On average, there were about a dozen ideal skating days.

Council was presented with three options: monitor and maintain the ice at Toogood for $222,000 annually; monitor the ice only for $122,000 annually; or allow the community to set up a volunteer ice rink on a patch of grass near the pond, for about $1,500.

Putting large amounts of money into Toogood Pond is a lopsided approach and not fair to the numerous volunteers who run the dozen or so community rinks, argued Councillor Valerie Burke.

She also questioned why Richmond Hill allows public skating at Mill Pond, the ice surface at is main park.

Clearing the ice at Mill Pond is incorporated into everyday winter maintenance work by town staff.

“There isn’t much of a temperature difference between the two ponds,” she said.

Local residents are mobilizing against the Toogood Pond skate ban and are circulating a petition.

Meanwhile, the artificial outdoor ice surface at the Markham Civic Centre recently opened for the season.

Council is expected to make a final decision on Toogood Pond at its meeting Dec. 15 at 7 p.m.