The last rocks have likely been thrown at the Nelson Curling Club.
A structural assessment and geotechnical review by the City of Nelson has found issues with the foundation, walls and roof of the 51-year-old curling rink at 302 Cedar St.
Chris Johnson, the city's general manager of community planning, climate and infrastructure, told the Nelson Star in an email that no work will be done on the city-owned building until a public engagement process set to begin in November determines the facility's future.
The 128-year-old Nelson Curling Club hasn't been active since spring 2023. The non-profit organization was required to fundraise for costly repairs to its ice plant, which meant it missed all of the 2023-24 season. But in the interim the city also assessed the building and found its issues run deeper.
Now club president Kristina Little says the sport is without a home in Nelson for the foreseeable future.
“We’re without a facility. So that leaves the curling club basically non-existent.”
Little said the club has not been provided with the structural reports. But in a meeting with the city, Little said she was told the issues are significant enough that the building is likely at the end of its life.
“The geotechnical report about the underside of the building was very bad. Basically the building has voids underneath it, and it's slowly melting down Cedar Street, for lack of a better term. It's settling and shifting downhill.”
The news is infuriating for the club, which built the rink in 1973 and sold it to the city in 1994 on what Little says was an understanding that it would be taken care of.
But the last decade has seen the city dither on the facility's needs, while the club has struggled to stay open.
Efforts to install a concrete floor that would allow for off-season events — the club's deal with the city, which expired in 2014, forces it to pay rent during the summer when the building is empty — weren't supported by the city, nor was the club's pitch that the Regional District of Central Kootenay take over management of the ice plant after an ammonia leak was detected in 2019. (The city did spend $30,000 at the time to help repair the plant.)
Little blames the city for the building's current state, which she says could have been avoided if it hadn't been ignored.
“They basically took that building and didn’t do anything with it and let it fall apart. So could something have been done? Possibly. But there’s a lack of planning.”
One sport meanwhile is still operating in the building. Glacier Gymnastics has moved classes into the curling club's lounge while renovations are underway at the Civic Centre. But Glacier isn't paying rent to the curling club, which wasn't notified by the city of a new tenant despite it being the lease and insurance holder.
Curling's history in Nelson began with the first club in 1898. The Midsummer Bonspiel, which ran from 1945 to 2008, was once a major draw for the city with more than 200 teams attending at its peak.
There were other highlights as well. Nelson's Fred Thomson and Rob Nobert competed at the 2005 Brier national men's championship, and in 2016 the club hosted the provincial championships. In 2023 the club was honoured by Curl BC for innovation with the hiring of its first full-time general manager as a solution to volunteer burnout.
But despite the long history, the curling club's last decade has mostly been marked by unheard pleas for assistance.
Little said the city and RDCK have not been transparent with the club about the building, and that the coming public consultation is too little, too late. The club plans on making its pitch to the community that a curling rink should be built, but even if that happens Little said a rink likely wouldn't be constructed for at least five years.
“Hopefully the community engages and says yes, we do want a curling club. So maybe in their future planning a new curling club will be part of a new facility that will be built. But that's really the only thing we have right now.”
