It’s two days before Christmas, but the Grinch has already arrived.
The City of Cornwall told a family today that the hockey rink on their front lawn has to go.
“After extensive talks with administration and the Mayor, it’s unfortunate but at the end of the day the ruling is going to have to stand and we are going to have to take down the rink,” said David Murphy, a Cornwall City Councillor.
According to Murphy, a city by-law prohibits any structure from being built within 20 feet of the road. Since the outdoor ice rink was partially built on city property, it has to be dismantled.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Laura Vincent, who built the rink with her husband earlier this year.
“It’s my middle daughter’s birthday today, so we were hoping for some good news.”
The battle over the outdoor ice surface started after a couple of neighbors complained to the city that a by-law was being broken. Vincent said she was told directly by neighbours that the high boards were an eyesore.
Neighbors who spoke to CTV News had mixed feelings about the rink. Some said it did not fit in with the community, while others said it was great to have kids back in the area again.
The Vincent family has been given until January 5th to remove the nearly 2.5 foot high boards, or face a charge for the city to do it for them. Although the city ruled the ice itself could stay after the boards were removed, Vincent believes the rink cannot survive without them.
“Because of the slope in our yard, as soon as we remove the boards and the tarp, after a few mild days the rink will just wash away,” she said.
The family and the kids are hoping for a Christmas miracle. They are looking at all possibilities to keep the rink running, including getting community members to help build boards out of snow.
“The ice can stay, it’s the boards that have to go,” said Councillor Murphy.
“If we can build snowbanks around and freeze them up, make them hard, we can make some old fashioned pond hockey like I used to play when I was a kid.”
