City has some excellent options for new arena site

City council is about to take a comprehensive look at the future of large-scale sports and entertainment in Peterborough.

At Monday's meeting, councillors will discuss a new report from Sierra Planning and Management, one that looks at the city's need for a modern OHL-level arena that can also serve as a concert and special event venue – a replacement for the Peterborough Memorial Centre.

It's a hefty report, packed with detail of the group's extensive study of the local arena situation. In summary, it suggests a new sports/event complex would cost $85.9 million (for a two-pad arena with 5,800 seats) or $72.1 million for a single-pad version, and would take five years to build.

The section that has drawn the most initial interest, though, is the list of potential sites for this new facility.

The consultants recommend that the new facility be built at Morrow Park, alongside the existing Memorial Centre. This makes sense – while some would like to see the new arena downtown, Morrow Park isn't that far from the heart of the city.

Other possible locations include the city's public works yard on Townsend Street – closer to downtown, to be sure, but limited in acreage – and the No Frills store site on George Street.

That's an intriguing suggestion. The store sits on a large parcel of land adjacent to the river, and close to downtown. The city recently purchased adjacent land (currently home to a fast-food restaurant) and plans to close the little stretch of Water Street behind the store. The removal of the store building would result in a space similar in size to what the Memorial Centre currently uses at Morrow Park, and offer an easy-to-access site close to downtown and the water. An arena there would be a jewel.

Some of the suggestions weren't on many people's radar.

James Stevenson Park, located along the Otonabee river in East City, just south of the Hunter Street Bridge, is a large and little-used greenspace with a terrific view and fairly easy access. However, it's surrounded on two sides by a quiet residential neighbourhood, so not ideal for a venue that would attract thousands of people, and their vehicles, two or three times a week year-round.

One suggestion is the soon-to-be-former Canadian Canoe Museum site. In addition to the museum itself, this includes warehouse buildings located behind the homes on Romaine Street. This idea has merit. However, it's even farther away from the downtown.

The GE site has been mentioned as a possible arena location since the company announced the end of its operations here. However, another firm still occupies part of the site, and any new development raises the issue of the decades of potential environmental hazards in the property's soil. Re-use of the land, surrounded by homes, should be studied for longer than the five years this project needs.

Based on what we know now, the ideal sites would be Morrow Park or the No Frills location. Both offer the space and access a facility like this would require, and both would become highly visible landmarks for our growing city.

The decision will, in the end, have to include discussion on how important it is for this new sports and entertainment hub to be downtown, or where sports fans have been gathering for decades.