City report slams plan for ‘miracle park’ in Riverside
Riverside Minor Baseball Association officials who have pledged $2.4 million to transform the former Riverside arena site and adjacent St. Rose Park into a “miracle park” for disabled children say they are dismayed a city hall report trashes their plan.
“We’re just disappointed the administration would recommend selling off parkland,” said Bill Kell, the RMBA executive member leading the campaign to lease the St. Rose/arena site for $1 and redevelop it.
The administrative report supports selling off the arena property fronting Wyandotte Street for a commercial/residential project with 78 residential units, selling a former school site at the very back of the property for 18 semidetached units, and leaving the park, including the outdoor pool and ball diamonds, as it is.
That plan would be a couple million dollars cheaper for the city, according to the report which goes to council Monday.
But it would mean the association’s ambitious plans for the park — including a Miracle Field Diamond with a rubberized surface so kids with disabilities can play the game, plus an accessible playground, accessible washrooms, moving the cenotaph to a better location and a new outdoor stage — would be dashed, according to Kell.
Their view seems to be it’s always all about revenue and not much about quality of life.
“Sure, they want to sell the property and gain some money, but we’re willing to make an investment on that property of $2.4 million to keep it as a community hub,” he said.
“We don’t accept the position of the parks department of: ‘Look it, let’s just turn this into a strip mall and put the Miracle Field somewhere else.’”
To show their pledge to raise $2.4 million is for real, local businessman Rick Farrow will announce Monday that he’ll donate hundreds of thousands to the project, bringing the total committed before the campaign really begins to more than $700,000.
“I want to step up in a big way,” said Farrow, who grew up in Riverside and whose father Huntley was a longtime Riverside councillor. He said the redeveloped park will help children from the entire region.
“I would really like to see it happen and I was quite disappointed to hear the recommendation from administration,” Farrow said.
“I really hope enough of (council) will see past the dollars and cents and see the real value in this.”
RMBA people said they’re hopeful the councillor for the area, JoAnne Gignac, will support their plan. Attempts to reach her on Wednesday and Thursday were unsuccessful.
The staff report claims the baseball association’s plan would cost $3 million, not $2.4 million, largely due to deficient parking — not enough of it and in the wrong location. The report says to fix this would require a parking lot be built on the former Concord school site instead of selling it for homes. And that would mean a big loss in revenue from the sale of the land, development fees and annual tax revenue. The report says the city plan would save $2 million in capital costs, would gain $1.1 million in development charges and would reap $200,000 more annually in tax revenue from all the new homes.
But Dave Cooke, a volunteer for the RMBA campaign, said it’s “crazy” to suggest that using the Concord school site for parking is part of the group’s plan. If city staff had a problem with where the association wanted to put parking, they should have sat down and discussed it instead of deciding that parking had to go on the school site. The RMBA doesn’t need the school site — the city can develop it for housing if it wants, officials say.
Cooke said if the city goes ahead with the recommended option, Ward 6 will be deficient in parks. The idea to sell off the arena site is part of the original plan to build the four-rink WFCU Centre, offsetting some of the costs by selling the old Adstoll and Riverside arenas.
“Their view seems to be it’s always all about revenue and not much about quality of life,” said Cooke, who said when you add up all the features of the RMBA proposal, including the Miracle Field and accessible playground, “we’re really talking about a miracle park.”
Windsor CAO Onorio Colucci said the city “reviewed their proposal and it was seen to be deficient in a number of facets that were explained in the report.”
He defended changing the RMBA proposal by putting parking at the school site, and thus changing the financials. It’s akin to reviewing a proposal to build a ladder to get to the third floor, then learning it would only make it to the second floor — you have to estimate how much extra it would cost to build the ladder correctly, Colucci said.
“I guess we’re saying if you want to do the proposal it’ll cost more than they’re saying,” he said. “If we said $2.4 million won’t work and leave it at that, I think we’d be criticized for that.”