The Hot Topic this Week: Skating on Thin Ice!

“It’s coming on winter, they’re cutting down trees, they’re putting up reindeer and signing songs of joy and peace. Oh, I wish I had a river, that I could skate away on…”

Lyrics from Joni Mitchell’s song River
You can listen to this song on You Tube

Joni’s song was not actually about the wish to skate on rivers; it was about a romantic break-up and a wish to escape the painful feelings by skating away. So, not directly related to the safety of skating on rivers, or for the topic of this article, storm ponds, but in a distant way related to her admission of selfishness and loss due to her stubborn attitude. A wee bit of a stretch of the imagination I realize, but then, this is an opinion piece. 

What is not a stretch of imagination or my opinion, is that the City of Chestermere currently has Bylaw #001-21 of January 19, 2021 in place, prohibiting people from skating on storm ponds. The following is a portion of that Bylaw, copied from the City’s website:

2. Section 13 is added to read the following:

13. Storm Ponds

(1) No person is permitted to enter into, or upon the ice surface of a designated Storm Pond within the City of Chestermere.

(2) No person shall allow or permit others to enter into, or upon the ice
surface of a designated Storm Pond within the City of Chestermere.

(3) No person shall place, allow or permit the placing any object, structure
or equipment either within, or upon the ice surface of any Storm Pond
within the City of Chestermere.

(4) The City, without notice, may remove and impound any object, structure
or equipment, that has been placed within, or upon the surface of any
Storm Pond within the City of Chestermere. Any objects, structures or
equipment that remain unclaimed for period of thirty (30) days, will be
disposed of in accordance with the Municipal Government Act.

(5) The City will not be liable for any damage to any object, structure or
equipment, impounded pursuant to section 13(4) of this bylaw.

(6) Section 13 of the bylaw does not apply to any City department or party
contracted by the City, in order to conduct maintenance or training, in or
upon the ice surface of a Storm Pond.

To sum it up: NO skating on storm ponds. Period. End of story. Not open to any resident’s interpretation, opinion or beliefs. City Staff put up No Skating signs at all storm ponds last year, but some folks ignored the warning and continued to skate on them, so the storm ponds were sanded, causing a lot of buzz on community Facebook pages, with citizens protesting against the City for taking this “natural winter activity away from residents.” No doubt, the protests will start up again this year when the City continues to ban skating on storm ponds. 

Like many of you, I grew up skating on the frozen creek behind my family home. It was “fun for free” and all the parents loved knowing their kids were outside getting fresh air and exercise. But this was a natural creek and not a storm pond, which is a big difference. Storm ponds do not have stable water or consistent thickness of ice. Water is constantly flowing in and out, air pockets can form under the ice, and salt runoff can make ice weak in areas. All this adds up to an unsafe ice surface.  

In response to banning winter activity on storm ponds the City of Chestermere has stepped up to create several safe skating rinks throughout Chestermere. You can check out their locations using this link:

If you do your own research, you’ll learn that Chestermere is not the only municipality to winter ban activity on storm ponds, and it’s not the only one to receive the push back from residents. I get it, you want your kids to have fun; so do I and so does the City of Chestermere! But there is enough clear, scientific evidence that storm ponds are not safe to skate on.

This is not a stretch of imagination or an opinion; it is a fact based on scientific research and evidence-based outcomes.  All it would take to out our community into a deep state of mourning is to have one kid die from going through the ice on a storm pond. As much as I love to see kids having fun, this is simply not a risk I would be willing to take. Would you? 

This is my opinion. What’s yours?

[democracy id=”11″]

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About the author

Karen McKee

Karen McKee

Karen McKee moved to Chestermere from Thunder Bay, Ontario in 2012. She and her husband of 42 years live a very active life with a family of 4 children and 1 grandson. Her earlier work career was in sales & marketing. In 2014 she became a Certified Coach Practitioner and in 2015 she formed her company PathwaysCoaching.
Karen volunteers in our community for multiple activities and events.
She is passionate about excellence in leadership and good governance and hopes to share that passion with others through her writing.


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