The Regional District of Central Kootenay Board of Directors has directed staff to change Nelson Minor Hockey’s ice allocation for the 2026-27 season, following a dispute over the organization’s schedule.
The board approved the motion Thursday, after the Nelson and District Recreation Commission recommended the change in August.
According to commission minutes, the dispute centres on the 2026-27 ice allocation at the Nelson and District Community Complex.
A report by Craig Stanley, Regional Manager of Operations and Asset Management, said Nelson Minor Hockey was allocated 65 hours of ice for the 2026-27 season, compared with 66.75 hours the previous season.
NMHA appealed after some of its preferred evening ice was replaced with early-morning times, including slots starting as early as 6 a.m.
A letter to the commission from Nelson Minor Hockey Association president Philip Rees said the association specifically objected to losing a long-standing Tuesday evening ice time.
NMHA also argued the early-morning times aren’t feasible for some families, particularly those travelling to Nelson from Nakusp, Kaslo and Castlegar.
The association said a 6 a.m. practice could require families to leave their communities extremely early, travel to Nelson in winter conditions and then have their children attend a full day of school.
“We do not believe that replacing an established evening youth ice time with additional 6:00 a.m. ice throughout the week can reasonably be viewed as an equivalent allocation.”
The dispute also involves the Old Timers hockey group.
According to Stanley’s report, the Old Timers were initially given a 9:45 p.m. slot for the 2026-27 season and appealed that time.
Staff found they could use morning ice elsewhere in the schedule to move the Old Timers into an earlier time slot.
But Rees, on behalf of NMHA, argued that was the wrong approach, saying the association is a youth group with a higher allocation priority under the RDCK’s recreation policy, which ranks Youth Non-Profit Community Groups above Adult Non-Profit Community Groups in its allocation priorities.
NMHA said its issue was not simply about wanting more favourable ice times.
“We are asking that the RDCK’s adopted allocation policy be applied consistently and transparently to all user groups,” Rees wrote.
RDCK staff initially recommended leaving the allocation unchanged.
Stanley’s report said the process considered historical use, facility capacity, competing requests, allocation priorities and opportunities to optimize the use of the space.
A review of the allocation policy was also recommended, with staff acknowledging there are areas that could be clarified for future allocations.
The Nelson and District Recreation Commission ultimately directed staff to change the NMHA allocation and review the policy during its August meeting.
The RDCK board approved that direction Thursday, directing staff to revise the NMHA allocation, though it has not approved a specific replacement schedule or said exactly which ice times will change.
The broader policy review is expected to return to the first All-Recreation meeting of 2027.
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