Thunder Bay should stick with Chapples Park site for all-season turf sports facility, report says

The City of Thunder Bay is recommending that council "reaffirm" Chapples Park as the site of a proposed new indoor turf sports facility.

The recommendation is in a report to be presented to council on Monday night.

Chapples was earlier selected by the city as the preferred site for the facility; that version of the project was estimated to cost about $46 million, but stalled when a request for funding from the federal government was denied.

That prompted Soccer Northwest Ontario (SNO) to come up with its own proposal for a hangar-type facility to be built next to the Canada Games Complex and Thunder Bay Community Auditorium.

SNO has said in the past the facility would cost about $20 million, but that number is updated in Monday's report, which states the SNO facility would actually cost between $32 million and $52 million and revises the cost of the Chapples facility, stating it will cost between $46 million and $56 million.

The new report says it should stick to its original plan to build at Chapples Park. 

"It is concluded that the upfront capital requirements for the two SNO Option building standards reviewed ... are estimated to be lower than the same for the Chapples Option," the report states. "However, the cost per square metre of gross floor area, the lower energy costs and the lower lifecycle costs per square [metre] over the expected 40-year life of the facility suggest that the Chapples Option provides better value for money."

Kelly Robertson, the city's general manager of community services, said the review identified a number of concerns with the location near the complex. She said: 

• The SNO proposal would displace a well-used softball diamond.
• There's limited access to a variety of outdoor turf compared to Chapples.
• The Chapples site has been supported by users in the past and that option is included in the city's recreation master plan.

The report also covers a few other discrepancies between the sites. For example, the SNO option would be smaller when compared to a facility built at Chapples and have less seating capacity.

Building at Chapples would allow for a large enough facility to include shower and washroom facilities in player changerooms. The smaller SNO option would require its shower and washroom facilities to be reduced and centralized.

The SNO design would also have reduced storage capacity, and smaller referee change rooms and administrative areas, the report states.

The entire report is available online, as part of Monday's council agenda.

SNO president Michael Veneziale told CBC News on Tuesday that he doesn't think the Chapples site has enough support for that version of the project to move forward.

"It's not the question of where exactly to play," he said. "The question is, is it going to happen?"

"In my opinion, if they if they go ahead with the Chapples plan as stated previously, there's not going to be support on council," Veneziale said. "We're not going to have the money needed to build it.

"By going back to look at the Chapples location, it's basically just dead in the water. I do not see it going forward."

A final decision has not been made, and Veneziale said SNO hopes to talk about the project with city councillors and administration prior to Monday's meeting or make a deputation to council on Monday night.

At-large Coun. Shelby Ch'ng said she's always been in favour of an indoor turf sports facility throughout its long development time.

"I think come Monday night, we're going to get to a bit better idea of why the other [SNO] location didn't work," she said. "Right now, from first blush at the report, it looks like overall the operating costs might be cheaper at the Chapples location.

"However, I do recall there were some issues with the Chapples location I would like to get to the bottom of on Monday night."

But she's uncertain as to where her fellow city councillors may stand on the project.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what council supports anymore," Ch'ng said. "It was unclear why they turned it down at the Chapples site.

"A couple of counselors mentioned the cost, others mentioned the actual location" she said. "It's a bit all over the place, and I'm hoping we get some clarity as a way forward, because I think the community really, really needs to move on with this one way or the other."

Ch'ng herself said she doesn't have a site preference at this point.

"I am keeping an open mind for this," she said. "I am not married to one site. All I know at this point is that there is a need for an indoor turf facility."

Northwood Coun. Dominic Pasqualino also said he had no preference for a site (the proposed Chapples location is in his ward).

"At the end of the day, I think that it's really important for city council to pick a direction and go with it and stick with it," he said. "But it has to be sustainable.

"There are a lot of questions," Pasqualino said. "Is the soccer community willing to pay the fees? Are the fees going to be reasonable?

"How much does the city want to put into all those things? Unfortunately we're still just skating around in circles and not getting into any kind of direction at this point."

If council does vote in favour of the recommendations on Monday, administration would be tasked with coming up with a funding strategy to be presented to council by Nov. 6.

Robertson said council would then need to decide on whether or not to proceed. If the project was to go forward, requests for proposal would be issued, and construction would start in May 2025.