Elliot Lake arena may not re-open until the fall of 2025

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Skaters in Elliot Lake could be facing another full winter without home ice to skate on. And now city staff are recommending that the rink, which was recently re-named the Rogers Arena, remain closed until the fall of 2025.

"Structural repairs at Rogers Arena have been underway since the spring of 2024," the report states.

"During this period, the project's scope has evolved considerably due to new findings regarding the condition of the arena's foundation system, partially concerning the existing geotechnical site conditions."

The report says that "major delays in the project thus far has been related to relatively poor soil conditions that the arena was originally built upon."

"This situation is frustrating in that the soil conditions and foundation system deficiencies were not apparent/not obvious at the beginning of the project. Visual inspection of the facility does not reveal the typical signs associated with subsidence, and staff and the design team were truly only alerted to the issue during the spring thaw of 2024," the report states.