Conditions on Toogood Pond not good enough: Markham council

Markham council to finalize skating ban on community pond at meeting Tuesday

Thestar.com
Dec. 14, 2015
By Noor Javed

The long-standing tradition of ice skating on Markham’s Toogood Pond has suddenly been deemed too dangerous.

Last week, Markham’s general committee voted 6-4 to ban skating on the pond that runs through historic Unionville, after city staff said they could not afford to put their employees and the public at risk to maintain the natural outdoor ice rink.

“Urbanization and environmental changes related to significant climate change, as well as increased salt usage impacts salt formation on the pond,” said the staff report. “Circumstances today are not the same as 20 years ago. Public safety is paramount for the city of Markham.”

The decision will be finalized at a council meeting on Tuesday.

Markham’s decision comes on the heels of the city of Toronto decision last week to permit skating on Grenadier Park in High Park, for the first time since 2001.

The news of the ban spread quickly among the tight-knit community near Kennedy Rd and Highway 7, with hundreds of residents expressing their dismay about the city’s attempt to end a local winter tradition.

A petition started on Wednesday opposed to the ban garnered nearly 800 signatures in two days.

“I’m terrifically disappointed with the idea of ban,” said Unionville resident Dave Walsh, whose home backs out to the pond. Walsh said he taught his two daughters to skate on the pond, and they are both now in competitive ice skating. “This is so much part of national heritage, and part of our Unionville heritage,” he said.

For years, Markham city staff has cleared the snow off the pond after priority winter maintenance on roads and sidewalks was completed. But there were no dedicated resources to clear or monitor the ice, nor adequate training to ensure safety, a staff report said. The city also used a rudimentary flagging system to alert people to the ice conditions.

But the growing uncertainty of ice conditions opens the city up to liability, and the staff report cites an incident where an “experienced operator had to crawl out of the back window of a pick up truck as icy water poured in.”

The city stopped maintaining the pond in 2012-2013, and stopped updating the flag system. But that didn’t stop people from going on the ice, said local ward councillor Don Hamilton.

Hamilton says it’s unclear what an actual ban would look like. “Are you going to ticket them, or are you going to arrest them?” he said. “It’s going to be impossible to enforce,” he said, adding enforcement hasn’t been discussed in council yet.

Staff gave councillors three options including: investing in an ice monitoring and maintenance program, which would cost over $200,000; contract out an ice engineer, and continue the flagging system - but get residents to clear the ice themselves, which would cost the city $155,000; and lastly to build a community ice rink near the pond for $1,500. It’s estimated that on average, there are 15 days the ice is thick enough to skate on.

Long-time Unionville resident Henna Alvi says while the city offers a number of facilities for recreational skate, few offer what Toogood does: a space for kids to play a pick -up game of hockey and a place for the community to come together in the winter.

“How many kids get to skate on a pond?” said Alvi, who has vivid memories of skating on the pond in the 70s and 80s. She now takes her kids skating on the pond, or at least did, until the city stopped monitoring it. “It’s a real Canadian life experience that is in our backyard, and it’s sad that if the ban goes through, no one will be able to experience it.