Within its first day, more than 1,100 people had already signed an online petition calling on the city to keep the Lively Ski Hill open.
The hill, petition lead David Kurt wrote, is “a treasured community asset that promotes winter recreation to not just the locals of Lively, but also visitors from across Greater Sudbury.”
Ward 2 Coun. Eric Benoit told Sudbury.com that he plans on filing the petition with city council, and supports efforts to keep the Lively Ski Hill open.
“I think it’s a very important part of our community,” Benoit said. “It’s been fought for before by the community and really needs to stay here.
“It supports basically every initiative the city has going on when it comes to encouraging wellness and outdoor activity and greenspace, and ensuring we have facilities close to our nodes and corridors.”
The Lively Ski Hill’s future has been called into question in recent months by city council’s reluctance to fund needed capital repairs until its use and operating costs were reviewed.
Earlier this week, the community and emergency services committee of city council received a report from city Leisure Services director Jeff Pafford outlining these details.
Between a 1960s-era ski lift on the verge of potential “catastrophic failure” and a chalet whose components range from fair to very poor condition, the Lively Ski Hill is slated to receive $773,400 in capital work to remain operational.
At least, assuming city council proceeds with these approved projects.
Per an approved motion by Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh, these capital expenditures are under review and will come to city council for a final decision on Aug. 13.
Factoring into their discussion will be the Lively Ski Hill’s low rate of use and cost recovery when compared to the Adanac Ski Hill in Sudbury.
Last year, the Adanac Ski Hill recorded a cost-recovery of 93 per cent ($555,164 in user fee income against an expense of $598,315, yielding a net tax levy impact of $43,151).
The Lively Ski Hill recorded a cost-recovery of 6.7 per cent ($15,846 in user fee income against an expense of $237,087, yielding a net tax levy impact of $221,241).
The Adanac Ski Hill recorded 10,653 total visits in the 2023/24 winter season (averaging 204.9 visits per operating day), while the Lively Ski Hill recorded 715 total visits (averaging 28.6 visits per operating day).
“You need to be fiscally prudent, and there’s no need to spend (almost) $800,000 here,” Kurt told Sudbury.com, adding that it shouldn’t be an all-or-nothing debate between an expenditure of almost $800,000 or the Lively Ski Hill closing.
“Run it like a business, spend it like you need to, but don’t take it away,” he said.
Of the total expense, Kurt said $396,000 earmarked for chalet renovations could come out.
This, he said, would be “wasted money.”
“I’ve only set foot in the chalet to pay,” he said, adding that families are there for the hill, not the chalet.
The fact more people have signed the Change.org petition than visited the Lively Ski Hill last year is a sign that people want to keep the recreational option, but aren’t necessarily using it.
People don’t always know when it’s open, Kurt said, adding that if the city was better at marketing its hours of operation, and jacked up user fees to improve cost recovery and cut expenses closer to the bone, they could easily justify keeping it open.
Kurt has three children, aged six, eight and 10, and said the Lively Ski Hill is ideal for parents with young children.
“It’s small enough that you see the whole hill at once, you know where the kids are and there are some steep runs if they’ve got their confidence,” he said.
Benoit said that city council will be exploring various options, and that he’s committed to doing what he can to keep the Lively Ski Hill open.
“I don’t think it’s a done deal either way,” he said. “A lot of the community is supporting it, and I think if they’re given the opportunity to prove that support they’ll come through and we’ll see those (user) numbers come up.
“We have this gem in our community, which we should definitely be using more.”
The Aug. 13 city council meeting is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and can be viewed in-person at Tom Davies Square and livestreamed by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.