City council threw its support behind recommendations to decommission the Welland Youth Arena and build at least three new ice pads on city-owned land on Woodlawn Road, to co-ordinate with the proposed Woodlawn Sportsplex.

The recommendations were the conclusion of close to a year's worth of work on behalf of the city's arena feasibility study steering committee, which presented its report at the regular council meeting.

"We recognize the city of Welland is experiencing tough times," said Scott Doan, vice chair of the committee, when presenting the report to council Tuesday. "Can't afford to? Can't afford not to. Welland cannot afford not to invest in itself."

The committee found that the city's two existing arenas, the youth and main arena, were both extremely aged and will result in significant repair and maintenance costs as time goes on.

The youth arena is especially troublesome, said Doan. An inferior type of wood was used during construction in 1967 and during the first 20 years of use there was minimal maintenance done to the facility, he said.

"There is substantial evidence that the main roof arches have deteriorated between 10 per cent and 20 per cent since the year 2000," said Doan.

As well as the poor condition of the buildings, the two arenas are a fraction of what the city needs for recreational use.

Using a calculation of 245 hours a week of needed arena time by user groups, divided by arena hour calculation of 75 hours a week, the committee found that the city needs 3.68, or four ice pads.

That demand is based only on current user groups, states the report, and doesn't make allowances for hockey tournaments and women and girl's leagues, which currently travel to St. Catharines because the city doesn't have enough ice time to allow a girls or women's league.

In fact, even the current groups can't all cram in practices with the current situation.

"As you may or may not be aware, we have to buy ice time out of town," said Doan.

Council chambers had the feeling of a hockey game, as hundreds of Welland Tigers, the city's minor mascot teams, crammed inside to support the report. Many waved signs that read "Say yes to new arenas."

Council, for the most part, was appreciative of the committee's recommendations, and the young players, and their mothers and fathers, applauded several times after the members spoke.

"How many of you have a 6:15 practice tomorrow morning?" asked Coun. Barry Sharpe.

The next steps, said recreational general manger Bill Fenwick, are for city staff to look at implementation strategies and for the budget review committee to determine the financial implications for the city.

Additional recommendation included that a cost benefit analysis be done on the Welland Arena, to determine whether it should be refurbished or decommissioned for the city to build a new spectator arena.

"We need to make sure it's a Welland solution to a Welland problem," said Fenwick.

The committee also recommended that the option of a public-private partnership, known as P3, model be available if the city cannot fund the project, an option that didn't sit well with Coun. Sandy O'Dell.

"Then we have a private partner who wants to make money on the issue," said O'Dell.

Mayor Damian Goulbourne cut off O'Dell, saying that council was "not debating the pros and cons of P3s." O'Dell then accused Goulbourne of having a "bias."