"For the city to make the sale, there's just a bunch of hurdles, so I've come to the conclusion that it's not worth pursuing," Mayor Justin Fischer told the Novi Note in August. He had pushed for selling the Novi Ice Arena earlier in the year.
That ended the ownership question. The money question is still open. Council's plan for the rink on Nick Lidstrom Drive is to keep it and upgrade it, and the city lists "Novi Ice Arena Renovations" among the projects a capital millage could pay for. That millage is on the ballot Tuesday, November 3. So the city has settled who owns the arena. Whether it gets a dedicated source of renovation money is up to voters in the next few days.
Why Selling Turned Out to Be the Harder Path
The Novi Note reported that Council's turnaround followed a review by the city's Finance and Administration Committee. Fischer gave several reasons. First, without city ownership it would be "virtually impossible" to guarantee that every group using the building could stay. Every council member had called that a requirement for any sale.
Next were deed restrictions on the property, which Fischer said would take a lot of time and legal work to clear. On top of that, the city would have to amend its parks master plan. "All of which would take five votes of council to get things done," he said, and he concluded it was better to "focus on making it a world-class facility."
That's a lot of process for a building with a large footprint. It covers 75,000 square feet with two 85-by-200-foot sheets of ice, and it has been open to the public since September 1998. Rink manager Jeff Mitchell told the Novi Note that about 700,000 people come through each year. The arena was originally built with bond funds. It now runs as an enterprise fund, a setup where user fees are supposed to keep the facility self-sustaining.
That funding setup matters here. User fees are meant to cover operations. A full renovation is a capital expense, and this is where the November ballot comes in.
What "Keeping It" Has Looked Like Since August
The city's September 28 council update lays out three directions Council gave staff on August 10, when it decided to keep the arena. Here is where each one stood as of that update.
- Formalize agreements with groups that have dedicated space. The August 20 Parks Commission minutes name those groups: Novi Youth Hockey, the Northville and Novi high school hockey programs, and the Figure Skating Club of Novi. The agreements cover clearer terms for locker rooms and office space. The City Attorney's Office has drafted them, meetings with the groups were set for the week of October 19, and the city plans to bring all of them to Council later this year.
- Explore sponsorships. Suburban currently sells what the city's update calls "dashboard advertising" at the arena, valued at about $1,700 per pair. Suburban has hired a third-party firm to value sponsorship assets at its own arenas. Novi isn't formally part of that study, but the city expects to use the results as a benchmark once the study wraps up in October. After that, staff and Suburban can discuss a broader strategy, including "potential naming opportunities."
- Brand it as a city building. Staff have toured the arena looking at interior signage, center ice, and other visible spots. They are also adding the city logo and clearer ownership language to the arena website and refreshing the logo to read "City of Novi Ice Arena."
That third item addresses a concern Fischer raised directly. "I walk into that ice arena and I feel that it is Suburban's ice arena. It's not a city asset," he told the Novi Note, adding that he wanted the city to "take an active ownership role." Suburban Arena Management, LLC is still the operator. Its management contract began July 1, 2025, runs through June 30, 2028, and gives the city the option to renew it for two more years, one year at a time.
All three of those items cost relatively little: paperwork, signage, a sponsorship review. None of them is a renovation, and the September update doesn't describe any construction project that has been approved or started.
Where the Renovation Money Would Come From
Councilman Dave Staudt has been the most direct about that gap. He told the Novi Note that the school users' dedicated locker rooms are "kind of run down in my mind," that the building looks outdated, and that the capital improvement program millage would be the source of money to improve it.
Here are the terms of that measure, taken from the ballot language in the city's notice of election:
| Ballot term | What the language says |
|---|---|
| Rate | 1.0 mills, or $1 per $1,000 of taxable value |
| Length | 10 years |
| First levy | July 2027 |
| Estimated first-year collection | $5,412,997 |
| Allowed uses | Capital improvements and projects, including parks and facilities, land acquisition, pathways, and apparatus such as fire trucks and heavy equipment |
| Excluded uses | Operations or payroll |
| What it does | Replaces an expiring capital improvements millage |
The levy it would replace is the 2016 CIP millage. Voters approved that one for a ten-year term starting in July 2017, and its last collection came in July 2026. The city describes the new measure as continuing the same 1-mill rate with "zero tax rate increase." On its CIP renewal page, the city shows the math. A home with $300,000 in taxable value pays $300 a year toward this millage, and $100,000 of taxable value works out to $100. Taxable value and market value aren't the same number, and the city's examples assume taxable value is half of market value. Your own bill depends on your property's numbers. This is general information, not tax or financial advice, so confirm your situation with a qualified tax professional.
The Arena Is One Item on a Ten-Item List
A yes vote doesn't set aside money specifically for the rink. The city's list of possible CIP uses has ten items:
- ITC Park renovation and development of acquired adjacent land
- A community center
- Fire apparatus
- Continued land acquisition
- Continued sidewalk and boardwalk investments
- Energy efficiency upgrades at city buildings
- Bosco Field enhancements
- Playground replacements
- A cricket field
- Novi Ice Arena renovations
The arena comes last on that list, and the city's page doesn't rank the items. The 2016 millage gives some idea of what one decade of this money has paid for. The city credits it with pickleball courts, Bosco Fields, the Department of Public Works redesign, Novi Northwest Park, the ITC Trail boardwalk, fire apparatus, building work and renovations at Lakeshore Park, the splash pad, and more than 160 acres of added parkland. That's a long list of projects competing for one funding source, and next decade's list is just as long. The arena would be competing with all of them.
What Staudt Said Would Happen If It Fails
The city's answer is short. If the continuation doesn't pass, "community improvement projects will not have a dedicated funding source."
Staudt went further, specifically about the arena. He told the Novi Note he supports the mayor's plan and more, "but I may come back with a change of mindset if this capital improvement program millage doesn't pass in November, because we have a responsibility to look at all the potential sources of revenue if that doesn't pass, because we're going to be in a very difficult position."
The August meeting was a discussion only, with no vote. At least one council member has said publicly that the ballot result could change his position on the arena.
At the Rink and the Civic Center This Week
The ballot question and the arena's day-to-day schedule land in the same week. Early in-person voting runs through Sunday, November 1, at the Novi Civic Center, 45175 W. 10 Mile Road. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except today, Thursday, October 29, when the Civic Center is open from noon to 8 p.m. On Election Day, November 3, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can find your precinct at michigan.gov/vote and other details at cityofnovi.org/elections.
Skating goes on as usual in the meantime. The arena's public schedule currently lists sessions into early November. Public skating costs $13, skate rental is $5, and sessions are first-come, first-served and can change depending on ice availability. The Learn to Skate Fall 2 session started October 21 and runs through December 12. The next sessions run January 6 through February 20 and February 24 through April 10.
Later this year, Council is expected to review the formal agreements with Novi Youth Hockey, the high school programs, and the Figure Skating Club of Novi. Those agreements set the locker-room and office terms. The November 3 result decides whether the city has a dedicated fund to start fixing those spaces.
Civic projects like this one shape the community our clients live in, and they come up whenever someone weighs a move across Novi or Northville. If you're thinking about what your home is worth in a city that keeps investing in its public spaces, Gardner & Gesch can walk you through the local details and build a marketing plan around them. Sell with Us.
