City step closer to demolishing West Ferris Arena
A council committee is recommending West Ferris Arena be decommissioned and demolished.
The move was supported 7-4 in a recorded vote at Tuesday night’s special committee meeting.
A lengthy discussion was tied into an update on the Sam Jacks Master Plan, which is also underway.
Staff were seeking direction as the potential cost for a full suite of building condition assessments and studies, to potentially salvage the arena, is between $250,000 and $600,000.
It’s well-surpassed its life expectancy.
During the meeting, the Centennial-era building was often compared to the arena in Elliot Lake, which has seen reconstruction costs balloon by millions.
Councillor Gary Gardiner supported demolishing West Ferris Arena.
He earlier pointed out certain requirements need to be met with major renovation projects.
“As soon as you do that you need you have to meet all of the life-safety requirements, new codes for accessibility and also energy requirements and ventilation,” he says. “Unfortunately, Elliot Lake found out late in the game. It added another $11 million to the construction cost of that building. It pushed it up to $25 million.”
Councillor Tanya Vrebosch was one of the four no votes.
She wonders with further consultation coming with the Sam Jacks Master Plan, are they putting the cart before the horse.
“We’re about to go do a broad consultation with the entire community about that space and they might say we want to keep that building or want to keep something with that building, but we’re about to make a permanent decision and demolish that building,” she says.
Full council still needs to approve the demolition.
Very preliminary designs for the Sam Jacks Master Plan were unveiled Tuesday night.
Jim Scott, Principal with Trace Planning & Design, says there two components.
The first is the ‘Neighbourhood Site’ on Gertrude Street, where the current arena is.
“That would be the area that includes the play area, the splash pad area, if there were food service and washrooms it would be located in that space, open space for community events, multi-use and adaptable court space that could be used,” he says.
Scott says they’re also looking at giving the previous arena building an architectural nod on the site.
The other plot of land, the ‘Community Site’, maintains the current soccer fields, with a dozen pickleball courts and parking lot added.
“We’re just starting to work on the concept in greater detail, we will flush it out quite well and will be hosting an open house with the community,” says Scott.
He adds they’re hopeful that open house will be held by the end of June.
The city is also researching land use covenants involving the current park space.
“We’re doing a property records search now,” says Ian Kilgour, Director of Community Services. “We’re also dusting off that file from about 15 years ago or so. The covenant would be registered on title, and we have the request in to legal.”
In 2010, a move to create housing on part of the site was quashed amid community opposition.
Richard Coffinhttps://www.mynorthbaynow.com/Richard Coffin has been a reporter and news anchor on the radio in North Bay for over 25 years. From premiers to people in the neighbourhood, he enjoys connecting with newsmakers and writing stories that matter to area listeners on a variety of topics including healthcare, education, politics, sports and more.
