Windsor city council voted to retire the skating rink at Charles Clark Square and instead build a new downtown rink during Monday night’s council meeting.
$1 million of “immediate repairs” to fix the rink surface was needed to ensure it would be functional by winter.
However, council voted to decommission the rink and build a new one instead potentially wasting money by repairing the rink.
Administrators recommended the city spend $300,000 on a consultant to design a whole new skating rink as part of the City Hall Square and Civic Esplanade project which councillors ultimately voted in favour of.
Ward 10 Councillor, Jim Morrison, says it's best to start over with the rink opposed to pouring money into it.
"It's really wasted money for us to keep pumping it into the current situation that we have, and I'm very pleased with administration's remarks that this consultant will work with the consultant that has already been working on the whole City Hall Square."
Morrison adds that he's hopeful for a quick turn around of the rink.
"We will move forward with this as quickly as possible, and just to let people know there's more to come because we do want to improve the whole area for a lot of other types of activities and community events."
Ward 3 Councillor, Rino Bortolin, gave his support to the new rink as the Charles Clark rink has become more popular.
"Obviously very supportive, and just great for the reaffirmation from admin that we will only be losing one season. Charles Clark has become quite a destination, as Mr. Roth mentioned, with over 350 people as well as groups going over there."
Since its installation in 1996, the ice rink has undergone around $364,000 in repairs.
The rink will be out of commission for the 2022 winter, however, it would be open by for the 2023-2024 season.