Clock ticking on grandstand

Demolition, repairs would cost $125K

A little over a month before the Peterborough Exhibition opens, the city is poised to tear down a large section of the Morrow Park grandstand that it says is unsafe to make sure seating is available for the Ex.

About a third of the grandstand would be demolished, leaving seating for 1,467 spectators, and the remaining portion would be repaired, said Jeff Lanctot, a lawyer who’s representing the city in its ongoing talks with the Peterborough Agricultural Society over the future of Morrow Park.

“Our concern was that in its current state it will not be usable,” he said Friday. “Our focus is making it usable for this season.”

Last month, the city’s building division declared the grandstand unsafe.

Chief building official Dean Findlay found that multiple roof and grandstand support columns along the north wall of the structure were corroded and decaying. In the unsafe building order, he cited deficient and unsecured wall cladding and support structure along the north wall of the grandstand.

A report on the situation is going to city council’s committee of the whole meeting Monday.

Council will consider awarding a contract for the repair and partial demolition of the grandstand to United Wrecking Inc. for $125,522 plus tax.

The Exhibition will have use of “a smaller version of the grandstand,” Peterborough Agricultural Society president Ryan Moore said.

“If it’s genuinely not safe, obviously something has to be done,” he said. “By the sounds of it, they have just enough time to make it functional for what we need.”

The Exhibition uses the grandstand for some of its horse show competitions, the truck and tractor pulls and the demolition derby.

The demolition derby is one of the Agricultural Society’s largest revenue generators.

The Agricultural Society is searching for additional temporary seating structures to replace the space that will be lost from the grandstand, but so far it hasn’t had much success.

“It’s fair season and it is in high demand,” Moore said.

The Peterborough Exhibition runs Aug. 8 to 11 at Morrow Park, on Lansdowne St. W. between Lock and Park streets.

Earlier this year the city started a process to tear down the entire grandstand. United Wrecking was the lowest bidder with its $85,211 proposal for the contract. The city halted that tender process after the Peterborough Agricultural Society threated to go to court to get an order to block the demolition.

The city and the Agricultural Society, which holds certain rights over the use of the park, are negotiating over the plan for a series of changes at Morrow Park.

“We’re still talking. It’s a lot of exchange of ideas,” Moore said.

Repairing the grandstand is a practical solution to try to make sure that the Agricultural Society has a successful event this year, Coun. Len Vass said