A local hockey trainer is hoping to open a private training rink in Allanburg for small group practice, but some neighbors are concerned it might get in the way of their privacy.
During a meeting on Tuesday night, City council heard that Michael Agrette, owner and general manager of 99Hockey and Niagara Jr. Knights recently had moved to the area and is hoping to take his private training sessions to a vacant building on the property, located at 2350 Gainer Street in Allanburg.
Lawyer Rocky Vacca, representing Agrette in his efforts to get the area re-zoned to permit for the rink, said the facility would need 15 parking spots for players coming to train on an after-school-schedule, Monday-to-Friday.
No more than 12 athletes would be training at the same time.
The weekends would be free of practice, as many of those coming to train under Agrette often are away for matches with their respective teams.
"This will elevate Thorold as a prominent hockey center," Vacca argued and said the facility will serve as a part of the "live, work and play"-motto of the province and would be a private amenity not needing subsidizing or funding by the city.
"The use will promote physical training in smaller groups which might be the new normal for some time for most sports including hockey during these challenging times"
Thorold's intermediate city planner Paul Klassen said his office had heard concerns from neighbors about the possible impact on the area, with privacy, property values, further development as well as traffic- and noise issues standing out.
The meeting was also digitally attended by some neighbors who were not keen on the idea of a sudden influx of daily visitors to the small community.
"With no privacy fence on their side, everyone will see in our yard," said a neighbor to the proposed facility, adding that many Allanburg residents had come to the community in search of tranquility and that a business with regular visitors would impose on the small-community character.
The applicants argued that the building had previously been used as an archery school for young kids, with as many as 60 participants at once and cars parked down the street.
"It will be a substantial decrease in traffic because previously there were as many as 60 children doing training there," Vacca said, but a neighbour objected that the school was only done a few months per year.
City staff will return with their recommendations about the futur of the facility at a later date.
