Cause unknown in collapse of 1000 Islands Sportsplex dome

Update (Friday, Jan. 21, 2022 at 9:20 a.m.):

The City of Kingston has provided an update, confirming that City Staff have are currently looking into the incident involving the collapsed sports dome at 1000 Islands Sportsplex.

“Building Services received a call and dispatched an inspector to the site to review,” the City’s Department of Building Services said in a statement on Friday, Jan. 21, regarding the dome collapse, which occurred on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022.

“As this is an open investigation, no additional information can be provided at this point in time.”

At time of publication, the cause of the collapse remains unknown/unconfirmed, however, Kingston received well over 30 cm of snow this week, beginning with the fast and heavy snowfall on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022.

Kingstonist will update this article as more information becomes available.

Original article:

The Kingston 1000 Islands Sportsplex dome has collapsed, likely due to heavy snowfall that Kingston experienced overnight Sunday, Jan. 16 to Monday, Jan. 17, 2022.

Paula Noel, General Manager of the Kingston 1000 Islands Sportsplex, said that at this point they’re still “trying to figure out what happened and aren’t able to comment further.” This is not the first time that the dome, located at 1485 Westbrook Road in Kingston’s west end, has collapsed – it also crumpled in February 2016, due to a heavy snowstorm at the time. While it hasn’t been deemed the cause of the collapse, Kingston got a whopping 33 cm of snow during the snowstorm on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022.

Kingston Fire and Rescue confirmed that they were not called to the site, and therefore did not respond to the collapse, but would not comment further. Meanwhile, the City of Kingston has confirmed they are currently looking into whether or not a City building inspector or engineer will be sent out to the site for an investigation, but did not respond further by time of publication.

The 1000 Islands Sportsplex website credits the state-of-the-art dome as manufactured by the Farley Group, featuring “significant technological advances to ensure its ability to withstand high winds and inclement weather conditions. With climate controls in place, our facility offers comfortable temperatures for indoor play through any season, while ensuring continuous play without concerns of high UV, weather delays or insects.”

According to their Facebook post, the Sportsplex had been closed since Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022 due to new government regulations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. “We will be reopening as soon as we have been told it is safe to do so. Let’s continue to do our part, we look forward to seeing you all back at our facility sometime in the future,” the post read.