$500,000 stadium upgrade approved

Councillors agreed Tuesday to spend $500,000 upgrading Commonwealth Stadium’s field despite concerns by Coun. Michael Oshry that the city must better plan such improvements.

Flag and goal anchors will be installed and the end zones expanded by squaring off the oval track.

The track will also be painted green, as requested by FIFA for the women’s and female U-20 world soccer championships, being held in August and in 2015.

“My concern is that we seem to be doing this work as other people ask us, not as we ourselves think we have to do it … We seem to do these ad hoc things,” said Oshry, the only councillor to vote against the improvements.

“It’s a half-million dollars of our taxpayers’ money. Before we make decisions like this, we have to have a plan for what we’re going to do with the stadium.”

He said he’s not against the project.

But Coun. Dave Loken said the work, scheduled to be finished in May, should go ahead.

“We have attracted world-class events to this facility … This is an investment in our facility that will bring us much more back than we are putting into it.”

Community services general manager Linda Cochrane said the track isn’t much used for races now and will have to be overhauled if it’s needed for a an event. She said FIFA and the CFL have raised safety concerns about players running off the field and slipping on the track.