The City of Windsor is reaching out to user groups of its ice rinks for some direction moving forward.
While rentals aren't happening just yet, city staff wants to know what users expect to see when they resume.
Re-openings will be gradual with several COVID-19 precautions in place, according to Executive Director of Recreation and Culture Ray Mensour, but some residents may be reluctant to return to public venues altogether.
He says the city is looking to get a better feel for what's needed and where.
"Our goal would be to open the number of ice pads we require based on the demand,” says Mansour. “We know there's not too many in the Windsor-Essex area right now operating ice pads. So it will be interesting to see what the demand is and how many facilities will be open across our region."
He says a similar survey on day camps received a good response.
"Based on that information, council gave us the approval to operate day camps. So we're going to do something similar here. We're hoping to have good response from our users to determine what should be opened and how we'll proceed moving forward."
Although no firm date for reopening is set, Mansour says feedback will be helpful.
"Based on that information, we hope to have something to council in the near future to be able to determine if we should open some arenas come early September,” he says.
The city's return to ice survey is live until July 31.
Windsor's recreation facilities have been closed since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.