Halifax to discuss stadium

COUNCIL TO DISCUSS PROPOSED STADIUM FOR POTENTIAL NEW CFL TEAM

Halifax council has voted to take a closer look at a proposed 24,000-seat stadium, the pivotal component of a bid to land a Canadian Football League team for the East Coast’s largest city.

In a unanimous decision, council has directed municipal staff to complete a thorough review of the business case put forward by Maritime Football Limited Partnership, in the final stages of securing a conditional CFL expansion franchise.

City staff are also expected to seek changes to the city’s charter that would potentially allow for a special tax arrangement and assist with debt financing of the massive project — pending the outcome of the business case analysis.

The group has proposed Shannon Park, a 38-hectare swath of land on the east side of Halifax harbour formerly used by the Department of Defence for housing, as the preferred location for the stadium.

Halifax’s top bureaucrat told council the proposal is more than a football stadium.

“This project is an estimated half-a-billiondollar real estate development that includes a stadium,” said Jacques Dube, chief administrative officer of Halifax Regional Municipality.

Although a new Canadian Football League franchise is expected to be the stadium’s anchor tenant, Dube said it would host a variety of sporting events, concerts and cultural celebrations.

He said Maritime Football is analyzing winter options for the stadium as well, including a full-time outdoor skating rink or an air-inflated sports dome.

Yet Dube admitted that the biggest question is whether the project is feasible and will be supported by the community.

A report to council laid out a handful of possible funding options for the city and the province, including a public financing model called tax increment financing.

Owners of the Shannon Park development would pay property taxes on the real estate, but that money would be set aside by the municipality and returned as a payment against the stadium’s debt.

“If the development generates $5 million a year in property tax, that would be applied against the debt of the facility,” Dube explained.

However, he said the property tax funding would provide only a portion of the cash necessary for the stadium.

Dube suggested council direct municipal staff to examine other options as well, including an increase to the hotel marketing levy and a new car rental tax.

Maritime Football is in talks with Canada Lands Company to buy up to eight hectares of land for the stadium, a parking structure and “associated uses,” the staff report says.

The new football team would be the anchor tenant of the stadium, which comes with an estimated price tag of up to $190 million.