After five years on the road, Coquitlam’s curlers are looking for a smooth path back to the city.
Representing the Coquitlam Curling Association as well as Curl B.C., Earlene Graham was in Coquitlam council chambers Monday to get on the municipality’s sheet list.
“A curling facility can be a self-funding asset,” she told council.
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Graham cited a curling centre in Chilliwack that served as a community hub and, in the process, hauled in $1.6 million in gross revenue over 12 months from 2022 to 2023. Kamloops is set to follow Chilliwack’s example, Graham added.
“Why not Coquitlam?” she asked.
The curling community would be best served by a year-round, six- to eight-sheet facility, Graham said.
As a fast-growing municipality, “It’s imperative that the city keep up with these needed facilities,” she said.
In 2018, Coquitlam’s curlers moved out of the facility at Poirier and relocated to Port Moody, merging with the Port Moody Curling Club.
That arrangement may not work for much longer, according to Graham.
During the approximately 22-week curling season, approximately 10,500 curlers skip, sweep, and hurry and at what is quickly becoming an old facility, according to Graham.
“What happens to the joint membership of Port Moody and Coquitlam when that building completely ages out?” she asked council. “Where will these people go when this building is no longer?”
With the curling facility in New Westminster at near-capacity, many curlers would be forced to head to Maple Ridge or father afield if the building shuts down.
“This is not ideal for a community of our size,” Graham said.
However, the community could be served by an arrangement at Planet Ice Coquitlam, according to Graham.
The lease at Planet Ice is set to up for renewal in two years, she said. Graham asked council to include curling in their negotiations with the property owner.
During preliminary discussions with Curl B.C., Planet Ice ownership expressed some interest in either a new building or converting a hockey rink to a curling sheet, Graham told council.
Graham also said she was also open to a facility that incorporated curling sheets as well as covered tennis courts.
