Major city recreation decisions ahead
Former city chief administrative officer plotting a future for city’s recreation, parks facilities as city’s new community services commissioner
Allan Seabrooke took over as commissioner of community services at an exciting time.
The planning and execution of some of the most important recreational facilities in the city’s history will fall under his supervision.
For a Peterborough native who grew up in a sporting household it’s an attractive but certainly a big challenge. He gave up his role as city chief administrative officer to take the job upon Ken Doherty’s retirement last month.
Seabrooke comes in as the city plans for a new major sports and entertainment facility, decides how to repurpose the iconic Memorial Centre, soon breaks ground on a twin-pad and competitive pool complex and embarks on a study to revitalize its parks system.
He also has to orchestrate temporary housing for the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers next summer when the PMC undergoes $2.5 million in floor repairs.
The biggest project is replacing the PMC and Seabrooke says it’s an inevitability. Consultants hired to do a feasibility study have already said as much and their final report, originally expected in May, is not expected now until September. The city has further tasked them with a detailed study of potential sites and costs for a new facility.
Seabrooke believes it’s reasonable that a new facility could be open in five to seven years. The study will show how new business attracted by a new facility will make it viable.
“When you look beyond it as a place for hockey, figure skating and lacrosse, the bigger part is the attraction of trade shows and concerts, the higher acts we are normally not a stop for on the concert tour,” he said.
“We’d be well positioned to attract more of those events for our residents.”
Regular events at the PMC draw from a surrounding market of 150,000 people but major concerts and events reach well beyond that, he said.
It will be a challenging project to realize, he said.
“I think you’re more realistic into the seven-year (range) before you’d have occupancy of such a facility,” he said. “I know many would like to see it quicker but my experience, because we’re dealing in a political environment, is these things take much longer. The legislation, building code requirements, environmental considerations, all of that, make projects much longer to come to conclusion. It’s unrealistic to think it’s going to happen really quickly but I think there is momentum.
“Our consultants are looking at funding models and ways to finance a facility like this. Where do you find the money? How do you look at development charges, user fees, naming rights, sponsorship, private sector investment? Potentially, something to go along with the building to generate additional money; whether it’s commercial or residential. All these things have to be looked at for the financial model to make a facility like this a reality as they have done in St. Catharines, Kingston, etc.”
The other major decision is location. Consultants are expected to identify six sites capable of holding the facility and offer recommendations.
“They’ll tell us the site they believe is the best and the pros and cons of each,” Seabrooke said.
The sites will be in the downtown core, the periphery of the core and Morrow Park, he said.
“If you’re going to invest $100 million-plus in a facility, you can’t compromise the facility for the sake of the location. The location has to work so that the building functions as it is supposed to,” he said.
Seabrooke expects a shovel to go in the ground in the spring of 2019 on a new twin-pad arena and pool complex at Trent University. The goal is to open in January 2021.
“We’re getting very close to the end of the detailed design,” Seabrooke said.
“The competitive pool is one of the pieces we’ve been missing in our community to have swim meets at the provincial level and to have some significant games we could attract to our community.
“Not only does it replace Northcrest Arena it also adds one additional pad that is very much needed for the number of users we have in the city. The site is being planned for two additional pads. The design and all the infrastructure are being put into place to add a double-pad when it’s appropriate as our city grows.”
Another major project will be a review of the city’s parks and open spaces which includes all athletic fields, basketball courts, splash pads, wading pools and playgrounds.
“We want to come up with standards for our parks. A parks planning process that is in place so when we’re talking to developers we make sure we get the parkland we need in these new developments to give us all the recreational uses families in those neighbourhoods need.”
The city wants to revitalize older parks and sports fields.
“We have hundreds of parks in this city and many are in need of redevelopment,” Seabrooke said. “Times have changed since many of those parks went in.”