It won’t be until Aug. 13 that city council decides on the future of the Lively Ski Hill, but a motion tabled for the meeting proposes that it remain open for at least another season.
Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh and Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre are slated to present the motion, which seeks to keep the ski hill open for at least another season and to investigate whether there’s any interest in a third-party operator taking it on for subsequent years.
The ski hill’s future has been cast into doubt in recent months while the city’s elected officials have pondered its future.
The issue last came up in early July, when city council members received a requested report on the ski hill’s operations after pumping the brakes on needed capital work a few months previous. The pause on $773,400 in capital work at the Lively Ski Hill was extended to Aug. 13.
The motion by McIntosh and Lapierre proposed for the Aug. 13 meeting resolves that the ski hill continue operations for the 2024/25 season and that staff determine if adjustments to user fees might help with cost recovery.
(Last month’s report noted that the ski hill’s 2023 cost recovery was 6.7 per cent, which pales in comparison to the Adanac Ski Hill’s 93-per-cent cost recovery).
The Aug. 13 motion calls for a ski lift currently located at the closed Capreol Ski Hill to be repurposed for use in Lively, at a cost of $387,000, in advance of the 2024/25 season.
Meanwhile, $396,000 approved for the refurbishment of the Lively Ski Hill Chalet would not proceed, and an expression of interest would be issued to determine if there’s interest by a third party to assume responsibility for the hill’s operations beginning in the 2025/26 season.
City staff would be charged with presenting a report to city council by June 2025 including usage data, revenue generated, operations costs, the results of the expression of interest and a recommendation for city council’s consideration.
In the event city council decides to cease Lively Ski HIll operations following the 2024/25 season, the $396,000 earmarked for chalet refurbishments would shift toward new recreational opportunities in the Lively/Walden area, and be added to the $4 million currently set aside from the sale of Meatbird Lake Park.
The motion by McIntosh and Lapierre is a reconsideration of previous direction provided by city council. As such, a two-thirds majority vote of city council will be required to formally table the motion, which once tabled would require majority approval to pass.
In the event a reconsideration does not receive two-thirds majority support, existing city council direction stands, which dictates the city will proceed with both the ski lift and chalet refurbishment work.
In the midst of recent uncertainty regarding the future of the Lively Ski Hill, community member David Kurt launched an online petition to save the recreational facility, which received 2,627 votes as of Tuesday afternoon.
This effort was supported by Ward 2 Coun. Eric Benoit, who told Sudbury.com last month that he plans on filing Kurt’s petition with city council.
“I think it’s a very important part of our community,” Benoit said at the time. “It’s been fought for before by the community and really needs to stay here.
Kurt said that his petition’s key goal was keeping the ski hill operational, and that the spending money on the chalet was “wasted money.” He also argued that user fees could be increased to help with cost recovery.
Although more people signed the online petition than visited the Lively Ski HIll in the 2023-24 season (it had 715 visits that year), Kurt told Sudbury.com that it’s a sign people are interested in using the recreational facility, but aren’t for some reason.
During the 2023-24 season, 120 season passes were sold for the Lively Ski Hill, which was triple the 40 passes sold in 2022-23, Benoit relayed, pointing to this as evidence of increased local interest in using the hill. Poor weather conditions limited the number of operating days in 2023-24, which resulted in the number of visitors dropping from previous years.
(In 2022-23, there were 45 operating days, 40 season passes sold, eight five-day passes sold and 1,646 total visits. In 2023-24, there were 25 operating days, 120 season passes sold, 18 five-day passes and 715 total visits.)
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.