Arena plan approved
Therrien lone opponent to plan to fill in part of wetland at Trent for new twin-pad arena
City councillors gave preliminary approval on Monday to a site plan for a new arena at Trent University that may also include a pool – even though the plan includes filling in part of a wetland.
Councillors were sitting as the planning committee on Monday, meaning the approval needs a final vote at a forthcoming council meeting (likely on Nov. 13).
Only Coun. Diane Therrien voted against the plan – the rest all voted in favour.
Council is planning a new twin-pad arena on campus, at Nassau Mills Rd. and Pioneer Rd., as a replacement for the aging Northcrest Arena in the city’s north end.
But some people have been asking for a pool under the same roof and council hasn’t ruled it out. That’s why the city ordered a design that includes a pool but could dispense with it, if council wishes.
Ken Doherty, the city’s community services director, said that with the pool the building would cost $54 million; he said the federal and provincial governments and the city will each be asked to contribute $18 million.
It’s been estimated in the past that removing the pool from the plan would reduce the cost by at least $13 million.
On Monday, councillors didn’t debate whether to build the arena and pool from the get-go or add the pool later, after the city has saved up; the idea was to approve the layout of the building, driveways and parking lots on the site.
City urban design planner Brian Buchardt showed councillors a design that holds the arena in one box and the pool in another, connected by a glazed breezeway.
To arrange the building on the site with driveways and parking, he said it would mean removing 593 trees (which would be replanted) and also filling in 11,862 square feet of wetland.
That’s a small portion of the natural wetland, Buchardt said, and the city would re-plant a doubly big “compensation wetland” of native species from the local ecology.
Buchardt also said a biologist would monitor the replanted area for up to five years, and the city will remediate it if there’s any “dysfuntion” (that’s why they’re setting aside $100,000 from the construction budget – the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority said that much could be needed to cover the cost of any remediation.)
When Coun. Diane Therrien asked Buchardt what plans the city has in mind for relocating species that live in the wetland – particularly turtles – she was told there was no plan.
“It’s kind of a thing where they (turtles and other species) hear the contractors coming and vacate,” Buchardt said.
Therrien said that’s not the answer she wanted to hear. Yet there was little more discussion from councillors about the wetland, and citizens in the gallery weren’t allowed to speak (they get their chance Nov. 13, before the final vote).
Michael Blois, an architect on the project from the Toronto firm Perkins + Will Architects, was at the meeting.
He was asked by councillors whether it would cost less to build the pool right away, rather than adding it later; he said it would be less expensive to build it at once.
But Coun. Dave Haacke said he preferred to “rough in” the pool and build it later.
“I would certainly like to tell people, at this time, we can put an aquatic centre in,” he said. “But a $13-million pricetag? I don’t know where we’ll get the money.”
Meanwhile there were a few people in the public gallery who didn’t get the chance to speak on Monday but say they will give delegations on Nov. 13 over concerns about the wetland.
Basil Conlin is a naturalist who monitors moth species – he says there are about 1,000 types of moth living in the area of Trent University.
In an interview after the meeting, Conlin said there are three species living in the Trent wetland that are dwindling, in Ontario: Western chorus frogs, stinkpot turtles and snapping turtles.
Colin said the frogs are tiny, and don’t typically move from one wetland to another: they die when their habitats are destroyed.
He also noted that turtles hibernate deep in the mud: if you fill in the wetland in winter, they can’t get out in spring.
Furthermore, he said replanted wetlands don’t flourish unless they are tended constantly. Otherwise they tend to fill with invasive species such as phagmites.
He also said it’s telling that ORCA is asking the city to set aside $100,000 in case the replacement wetland fails.
“It doesn’t inspire confidence,” he said.
Debbie Jenkins, a research biologist who is working toward her PhD at Trent University, was also in the gallery. In an interview after the meeting, she said she plans to address council in two weeks.
Jenkins said she has a lot of concerns with the plan to fill in part of a wetland and replant.
“There are a lot of unknowns and a lot of risks,” she said.
For example, Jenkins said Trent University hasn’t evaluated its wetlands - so it’s not known whether the wetland could be provincially significant.
“Not evaluated does not equate not significant.”