JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

After months of discussions to provide much needed arena services to the residents on the island of Île Perrot, the mayors of Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot, Pincourt and Terrasse-Vaudreuil jointly dropped the puck to officially start the first hockey game at the Cité des Jeunes arena in Vaudreuil-Dorion late last month, marking the launch of an unusual but effective solution to the growing demand for ice time.

It was a momentous event for the three mayors – Danie Deschênes, Claude Comeau and Michel Bourdeau – who started the process to purchase an arena outside of their territories in neighbouring Vaudreuil-Dorion earlier this year. Then, in August, the town of Vaudreuil-Dorion announced it would purchase the private arena on the campus of École secondaire de la Cité-des-Jeunes on St. Charles Ave. for $3.15 million, and lease it to the three Ile Perrot towns.

Now, the three towns jointly manage the facility.

“We are cooperating together fully so that all expenses and revenues are managed by Notre Dame in the name of the three cities,” Deschênes said in an interview. “We have an intercity agreement.”

The initiative will provide residents and sports leagues in the three municipalities with the option of having nearby arena services. The town of Île Perrot opted out of joining the deal.

Under the terms of the agreement, the three municipalities will pay for the mortgage, interest, maintenance and repairs for the next three to five years. Vaudreuil-Dorion, however, will maintain ownership of the facility.

“It was a financially stable arena, so we’re not worried,” Deschênes said. “We’re doing quite good in terms of what we understood the cost would be and what it is now. There are no big surprises.”

The three-to-five-year timeframe will give the three municipalities time to look into building their own indoor sports facility on Île Perrot.

“We are working to have something on the island but we needed to make sure we have an option for the families to use the arena until we move forward with our own project,” said Deschênes.

“I think this is the best solution we could find in order to preserve our hockey teams and also our free public skating,” Deschênes said. “The agreement is well done, well thought out and, for now, it’s going really well. It’s really a win-win situation between the four cities.”

The arena may also be used for summer activities.

“We have the option of opening it up for other sports or cultural events, so it depends on the planning we’ll do in the spring,” Deschênes said. “We definitely are open to greet teams for lacrosse, hockey or whatever, but not on the ice.”