For the second time this winter, a skating oval in Dieppe, N.B., has been closed due to mechanical issues.
And for the second time, some residents are questioning why the $1.4 million oval was built in the first place.
“It's very disappointing that we can't use it, for the money they paid to build it,” said Dieppe resident Linda Robichaud.
Mayor Yvon Lapierre proposed the idea.
At the time, council was divided due to the price tag. The vote was even 4-4, with Mayor Lapierre casting the deciding ballot.
“I'm not against the project. I was just against the timing at the time,” said Dieppe councillor Jordan Nowlan. “We had other more important projects to push forward.”
City employees inspected the surface Wednesday afternoon, noticing bare concrete in places. The refrigeration unit is designed to maintain ice up to plus 12 degrees.
Councillor Nowlan says the former surface, which wasn’t refrigerated, would have been good enough.
“We had a temporary solution where we had ice with tarps and kind of the old school way of doing a backyard rink is what we had as a solution here,” said Nowlan.
The city says the two problems the oval has faced this year are not connected, but residents say it’s still frustrating.
“My tax dollars getting spent on something that nobody can use and nobody else can use,” said resident Greg Sleep.
There’s currently no timeline for when it will be back up and running.
Nowlan says it could be shut down for the rest of the year if the problem isn’t identified.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis.
