Too many demands, not enough space
By Mark Squibb
The Town of Paradise is hoping to reach a compromise with St. John’s based not-for-profit Levitate Learning to host the 2026 FIRST Robotics Competition at the Double Ice Complex.
Councillor Jennifer Hiscock broached the matter during the Town’s February 3 council meeting. She explained the organization approached staff about hosting the competition at the Double Ice Complex and Rotary Youth Centre this coming November 20-21, and are requesting access to all rental space within the facility, including the warming room, resource rooms A and B, the gymnasium, all lobby space, and both ice surfaces.
The potential rental revenue, including the cost of both ice surfaces, would be $22,640. The potential loss of revenue due to displacement of other users would be $21,600.
The Robotics organizers, said Hiscock, would also need to cover the labour costs associated with covering the ice surfaces, removing the glass and boards, forklift rentals, and other charges.
The Town only has one ice covering of its own, so a second would need to be borrowed from another municipality should organizers rent both surfaces.
“To complete this work, the arena would need to be blocked for rentals starting on Wednesday or Thursday, so you’re looking at November 18th and 19th, then to reset after the event, we would need to block Sunday and Monday, which is November 22nd and 23rd,” said Hiscock. “The Town of Paradise has already committed to hosting the 2026 Para Cup. Hockey Canada will be here using the facility from November 26th thru December 6th, 2026, and regular ice users will be impacted during this 11-day period. If the Town rents the facility to FIRST Robotics the facility will be unavailable for regular ice users for potentially 17 days between November 17th and December 6th, which will have a significant impact on fall programming.”
The recommendation of staff was to decline the arena rental but offer the community centre spaces for rent.
“With the commitment already made to Hockey Canada to host the 2026 Para Cup, staff feel that hosting this event in the arena would be too labour intensive and we would risk not being ready to host the international event successfully the following week,” said Hiscock. “In addition, hosting this event would increase the time that our regular facility users will be losing on the ice surface.”
Hiscock allowed that hosting the competition would be “super cool,” but she didn’t want to see it impede the Para Cup.
According to Hiscock, the organization would be agreeable to renting just one ice surface. She also expressed wariness over removing the glass, adding the Town does not have a proper way to store the glass, a point on which organizers did not budge.
The event, added Hiscock, would be open to the public.
“I would love to see them here, but their ask, financially, just doesn’t work for the Town, I don’t think,” said councillor Tommy Maher. “Putting all these people out of the rink, looking for covers, removing all the glass. I don’t think I could support a takeover of the rink. Maybe we could put them somewhere else. But financially I don’t think it’s feasible.”
Councillor Sheldon Antle said he was a similar mind as Hiscock and Maher.
“I think this is a fantastic event,” said Antle. “Not all kids get to go and compete in sport events, and sometimes an academic event of this nature brings that experience to a different group of kids. So, there’s certainly value there. I also agree with councillor Maher and councillor Hiscock that there is so much going on at that period of time. Our commitment to the Para Cup is paramount… This is also going to impact a large number of our community groups.”
Antle concluded he was in favour of hosting the event, so long as it didn’t put out other user groups – which it seemed it would do.
Councillor Glen Carew concurred that while he would like the town to host the event, he just didn’t know if it was feasible, especially with the Para Cup scheduled so soon afterwards.
“I would love to say yes to it, if the Para Cup wasn’t happening,” said Carew. “Yes, we do from time to time need to displace and inconvenience our user groups. But this seems like a very big inconvenience, considering that Para Cup is the next week.”
Carew allowed that removing the glass and covering the rinks was fairly common, so he wasn’t as concerned about that aspect of the request.
Councillor Erin Furlong, herself a hockey mom, asked whether organizers would consider hosting the event at a different time.
“Even if we didn’t have the Para Cup, November is a very, very busy time of year,” said Furlong.
“September, October, November, December, all those months of the year we’re very, very busy. It’s not that we’re not always busy at the Double Ice Complex, but you think about programming that happens around the same time as the school year as well, so you’re talking Guides and Cadets and Scouts and all that kind of stuff. There are times of the year when those things are finished for the season, and I wonder if they would consider changing their time so we could look at hosting them. I would love to see them here, but it’s very difficult to displace not only the ice users, but every part of this facility. We would displace a lot less people at a different time of the year.”
Mayor Patrick Martin was in agreement with his fellow councillors.
“I would love to see this happen as well,” said Martin. “But the risk of not being ready for the Para Cup is the big thing. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize not being ready for such an important event.”
Hiscock moved that, as per the staff recommendation, that Paradise decline the ice rental spaces but offer the community rental spaces.
The motion was approved unanimously.