In a surprise move, a report regarding the replacement of the West Ferris Arena was pulled during Tuesday night’s city council meeting, to give staff time to rework the language.
North Bay Mayor Al McDonald explained that it was a legal matter under the tendering procurement policy, so it had to be removed.
City Councillor Mark King, who chairs the community services committee and is chair of the arena committee, said staff had worked all afternoon to get the wording just right.
“We thought we had the wording correct and the resolution. Just before it was due to come to council, there were concerns on the part of staff, and on their recommendation, I withdrew the motion so we have time to re-evaluate what this is going to look like.”
King says the recommendation is two-fold.
“The first one will deal with the purchase of a piece of property which was recommended by staff through the RFI process. The property is a private piece of property adjacent to the Omischl field, and that was received by staff. That recommendation will go to community services for a committee meeting. At that point, there will be a full discussion about what will transpire with respect to staff’s proposal for the property.”
The second part of the resolution deals with interest expressed by the private sector.
“Because it’s so complicated, I think the only solution is to take all of those private sector proposals, send them back to the arena committee which I chair, and at that particular point we’ll go through the process to recognize which one makes sense. I always felt we would probably end up coming with two proposals. One would be the public proposal which is the Omischl proposal. The second one would be the public-private proposal and at that point, it will be up to council to decide which proposal makes the most sense from the taxpayer's standpoint.”
King says from a city perspective, it is in an excellent position right now because of the amount of interest shown.
“My feeling has always been the arena is a major drawing card, wherever it’s built. If it’s close to retail, it will have an impact on the value of the retail property. It will also generate traffic which retail is looking for. And I see that playing a big part in the final decision,” said King.
“I think we’re going to need some extra outside help. I’ve already asked for that, in evaluating these private sector proposals to make sure we’re doing the right thing.”
In his presentation to City Council, Jamie Lowery, who represents the group interested in developing a new arena at the North Bay Mall location, asked that it consider broadening its perspective when it comes to developing an arena.
“If you’re going to spend that amount of money, it should be able to meet a lot more objectives than just ice. Bringing it in to someplace like the North Bay Mall helps the local economy, helps businesses, creates a destination, there will be some social services potentially to service the people of West Ferris. I’m not understanding why that isn’t embraced.”
North Bay Battalion head coach Stan Butler is an unpaid consultant working with Lowery on the project.
Some residents have suggested building the arena at Omischl as a way to fill the need for change rooms at the sports field.
In Butler’s opinion, that’s not the way to go.
“I think quite frankly it would be unfortunate if these two things were linked together. Anybody who has played football, which I have, would understand hockey dressing rooms are not for football. Football you have 40 players, you need a different type of facility,” said Butler.
“I think putting an arena down there, away from everything doesn’t help the community financially, and as far as I’m concerned, it won’t resolve the issues for football either.“
The matter will be back before council at its next meeting in two weeks.