|
|
Post by Max on Oct 19, 2007 17:50:55 GMT -3
City forms plan for rec centre; $30-M complex will feature two-pad arena, indoor soccer and swimming
Posted By Denis St. Pierre
A multi-use recreation complex proposed for Greater Sudbury should include two ice pads, indoor and outdoor soccer fields, a swimming pool, walking track, gymnastics centre, various multi-use spaces, a restaurant and retail space, a consultant has advised the city.
Those recommendations were unveiled Thursday night during a public meeting at Tom Davies Square to discuss progress on the recreation complex proposed by city council.
Building the recreation complex, the estimated cost of which is as high as $30 million, is a major goal set by city council. An equally lofty priority of council is building a performing arts centre that could cost up to $60 million according to early estimates.
Council has set up community advisory panels to come up with development plans for the two projects. On Thursday, the advisory panel in charge of the recreation complex provided a glimpse into the centre's possible configuration, should it come to fruition.
It's a given that the recreation centre would feature multiple ice rinks and soccer fields, said Steve Langlois of Monteith Brown Planning Consultants, a London-based firm hired by the city to help develop a plan for the complex.
Specifically, there should be two ice pads, one of which would be Olympic size with seating capacity of 1,200 to 1,500, Langlois said. The centre also should house two indoor soccer fields, with another four multi-use playing fields outdoors, he said.
The facility should include an indoor, so-called leisure pool that is more play-friendly than the traditional rectangular lane pools found in the city, Langlois said. Other major features would include a walking track, large multi-use rooms, a gymnastics centre, a restaurant and retail space, he said.
The consultant also recommends the city seriously consider the inclusion of a skateboard park, basketball court, playground and a local sports hall of fame space.
The consultant's recommendations are based on demographic projections for the next 15 years, input from community stakeholders and an assessment of existing recreation facilities, Langlois said. During the consultation process, he said, community stakeholders were virtually unanimous that the timing is right to develop the recreation complex, given the healthy economy, prospects for public and private funding partnerships and local political will.
"The one theme that popped up in just about every interview was, if this project is ever going to happen, now is the time."
Langlois also noted that his company's recommendations do not necessarily reflect entirely the final vision to be brought forward by the recreation centre advisory committee. The committee is scheduled to present its report to city council next month.
For example, the committee could decide the new recreation centre should have four ice pads, Langlois said. Another option is to include two ice rinks in the new centre, then add a second ice pad to the existing Countryside Arena in the south end, he said.
As well, the advisory committee could decide to add or subtract from the consultant's recommendations, he added.
As for the facility's ultimate cost and how it will be financed, that also will be determined by the advisory committee and city council, Langlois said.
While the advisory panel is scheduled to submit a detailed report to city council next month, the group's mandate has been extended to next March to give it more time to develop a financing model for the complex, said Ward 5 Coun. Ron Dupuis, a committee vice-chairman.
"We're not going to rush it," said Dupuis, who has vowed the recreation complex will be built. "We want to do it right."
The preliminary outlook for the recreation centre was generally well-received by several representatives of sports and recreation groups who attended Thursday's meeting.
"I'm very pleased that the committee is considering our desperate need for more soccer fields," said Kathy Talos of the Sudbury Regional Soccer Association.
However, the committee must be ready to take bold steps and not repeat past mistakes when compromises and half-measures were accepted due to short-term cost concerns, only to be regretted later, Talos said.
|
|
|
|
Post by Max on Oct 19, 2007 19:47:05 GMT -3
Sportsylvania
Sudbury has a population of 158,000 people and currently we have 14 arenas. London Ontario has 336,539 people, twice the population, and only has 11 arenas. Kitchener has 212,000 people, 56,000 more than Sudbury, and only has 8 arenas. Windsor has over 200,000 people and only 6 arenas. Currently we provide free lighting for tennis and bocce ball courts but not for baseball. Why?
If someone wants to go to an event at the Sudbury arena they have to go to the arena, regardless of where they live in the city. If someone wants to go to the casino they have to go to the casino in Azilda, regardless of where they live in the city.
Thus, the sports fields at Lilly Creek should be relocated beside the ski hill between Notre Dame and Westmount Avenue to create a new leisure related industry. Northern Fair Grounds Sportsplex will be constructed and Junction Creek will be buried like it is running through our downtown. We could rename something in this city for Jim Jerome. Mr. Jerome did not bring us anything sports related; he brought us the Data Centre.
Sportsylvania would become a 16 NHL sized iceland Hockeyplex Palace Casino. This venue is within 25 miles or so of nearly every Citizen and will accommodate the novice level to the pro. It would be open 24/7/365.25 each year, and would be smoke free, handicapped accessible, and contain a daycare - nightcare centre so parents can play or train while the kids learn. A Nursing Mothers' Room will be located adjacent to our First Aid Room.
There would be up to 40 dressing rooms so traveling teams will not have to waste money going from arena to arena making big oil companies richer. Many visitor trips are multipurpose involving a range of primary and secondary activities and this would provide them fuel cost savings. The money can now be spent enjoying themselves at our city attractions. Up to 40 teams would be assigned a dressing room where they can leave their equipment for the entire tournament.
Showers would be coin operated to offset operating costs. Video coverage of games would be aired live on the Internet so their family and friends at home can watch them live! DVD's of their games would be offered for sale within 20 minutes of the game concluding. Most rinks will be convertible to curling ice or speed skating.
All rink boards would be removable to create massive areas for different events like dog shows, rodeos, or an emergency shelter. One rink would be free skating 24/7. Five new electric Zamboni's would resurface our ice while all existing gas powered Zamboni's would be used for our outdoor rinks throughout the city.
The passive solar building would be up to 15 stories tall and house every sport imaginable, including indoor year round tennis, badminton, squash, volley ball, basketball, bocce ball, floor shuffle board courts (Courtmania), Ping pong tables, golf putting green, golf driving range with swing analizers and vector launch monitors (Golfarama), curling club, archery club, gun range club, and rock climbing walls (Viva Rock Vegas).
The centre would also include two indoor baseball fields, batting cages, 4 soccer fields, a football field, boxing club, martial arts centre, weight training centre, yoga centre, dance studio, Olympic sized swimming pool (Swim Gym), Olympic track for jogging, running or walking, a gymnasium covering every Olympic sport possible, Canada’s second indoor velodrome; and only the 4th in North America.
Various game rooms would provide shuffle board, carpetball, dart boards, pool tables, video arcade, hopscotch, chess, checkers, backgammon and other board table and floor games.
It is amazing what can be done with our bodies to spark a little electricity and I don't mean it in a dirty way, but rather in a clean renewable way. Manpower in the gym would generate electricity from the cardio machines that are linked to energy generators.
In other words, energy burned off by exercisers is diverted and converted to power lighting fixtures, while excess energy is stored in a battery. The program is called "Powered By You." Someone running an hour each day on a machine can generate 18.2 kilowatts of electricity and prevent 4,380 liters of CO2 from being released each year.
Ergo Bike Premium 8i released by Germany's Daum Electronics allows riders to virtually race other riders around the world. Riders pick a time, a virtual course, get on Ergo 8i and compete head-to-head in a race without ever leaving Sudbury.
Ergo 8i monitors every riders pulse rate, speed, distance and watts and then displays it all on the screen ahead for each participant to see. Bike riders can also see each other and talk to each other while racing, with the help of video streams and VoIP-enabled headsets.
A skateboard & BMX park with Graffiti walls would include vertical ramp area, kidney bowl, snake run, street run, rhythm area, and an entertainment stage. The park would house a mini skate area for small kids only, beginners skate area for newbies, and an intermediate area. Board and bike rental would be available.
A sweat lodge; public saunas with indoor-outdoor hot tubs would also be available for rent. Shrouded in billows of rising steam, there's nothing quite like the giddy contrast between the hot spa and the 27-degree-below-zero weather stabbing at your face. And if it's snowing, so much the better.
Unbeknownst to most, Sudbury is home to a NHL record of having more Stanley Cup winning coaches than any other city on earth. We have 14, and bronze statues of all coaches would be erected around the property. Art Ross – 1. Toe Blake - 8. Al Arbour – 4. Randy Carlyle - 1. Any local Olympian to win a gold metal would have a bronze statue added to our Walk of Fame.
We would also pursue acquiring the Ontario Juniour Hockey (OHL) Hall of Fame and the World Juniour Hockey Hall of Fame and locate them in this building. No solo bricks and mortal buildings exist for any of these players, they are currently located in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto but over shadowed by the NHL.
These attractions would contain a broadcast booth, dressing room, great moment's room and trophy room. Coaches’ corner would allow visitors to get video computerized clip tips on video screens from real pro baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis, golf, football players and Olympic athletes.
We would also pursue acquiring the Canadian summer and winter Olympic Hall of Fame and the Paralympic Hall of Fame and house them in this building or in Pyramid Palace. No bricks and mortal buildings exist for any of these sports. We would seek federal funding for these attractions and if anyone in the world wants to visit the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame they will have to come to Sudbury!
The facility could even become a summer and winter Canadian Olympic training centre. The only one East of Calgary. We would pursue a sports official academy, softball/baseball umps, hockey and basketball refs, volleyball and boxing, Olympic judging, etc.
There would be first class food sold in our liquor licensed spirits sports lounge and restaurant with big screen TVs for viewing every sport possible. An oxygen bar and a juice bar would provide juice drinks and vitamin tonics; 50 ml vials designed for the hard driving Type A's who do not eat right or exercise enough.
The city would control all of the revenue and instead of having 13 crappy concessions in 13 arenas, staffed by 13 people, we’d now have one huge outlet staffed by fewer than 13 people. Exclusive beer, spirits, water and juice selling rights would be sold to the highest bidder and add more revenue to the city.
A huge "Try it Before you Buy it" sports store would also be located in Sportsylvania, adding new retail rental revenue. All visitors can get their Hockey styled trading card photos taken for any sport.
There would also be 100 low cost motel rooms for traveling sports teams along with leasable office space. Some motel rooms will window onto indoor and outdoor sports fields.
Outside the building there would be a massive sports court, with 15 baseball diamonds, 15 soccer fields, 4 football fields, Xtreme Frisbee field, 15 tennis courts, some hard top, grass and clay, 10 bocce ball courts, 10 basketball courts, and 10 volley ball courts, or whatever amount of courts and fields we actually need. A leash free fenced in Dog Park would allow animals to run free.
Baseball fields would all have different out field wall designs, each depicting a different major league ballpark, some with hi-tech scoreboards. Advertising would be sold on all fences to create a new revenue stream for the city. This field of schemes will free up the current tennis dome for some other venture or the property can be sold for a profit and we'd add a new rate payer to the tax roll.
One drop in free field for each event would be provided and the remaining should be user fee controlled. All geese free fields and courts would be professionally maintained. Softball players would show up and play; they would no longer be required to bring and lay down their own baseball bags. We would create the largest blooperball, slo and fast pitch softball prize money tournament in Ontario, which will draw many traveling teams and hundreds of players / tourists.
A liquor licensed beer parlor sporting event-viewing area would be provided. This would eliminate the current drinking that is occurring on public property at baseball fields citywide. A dog bar would be included where dog owners can have a coffee, tea or drink while there dogs have a bowl of water. Now even our dogs could "woof" it up on all four.
The world's largest baseball bat and hockey stick would be constructed and lean on the outside of each side of the building and naming rights on the bat and stick would be sold. A huge soccer ball could also be included. A huge Hollywood style sign could be placed on the rock face beside the ski hill; Northern Fair Grounds, City of Dreams, Fields of Dreams, World of Dreams, Sports City or Sportsylvania; take your pick or create your own name. These architectural folly structures would all become landmark attractions.
Our Mountain Bike Centre would offer kilometres of fun, fast, twisty downhill trails with bridges, teeter-totters, drop-offs, rollers, jumps, berms, natural and man-made obstacles. A Zipline ride down the mountain through the trees would also add to the excitement while providing another new revenue stream.
Zorbing would be offered on our ski hill in summer and winter. Zorbing is just a totally bizarre and fun adventure experience of sphering down a hill inside a giant inflatable ball at speeds of up to 50 kilometres per hour. The Zorbonaut is strapped into a harness and rolls down the hill. This gives you maximum G force as you tumble head over heels. There is a sensation of weightlessness at the top of the Zorb and the view of green grass followed by blue sky followed by green grass followed by blue - green - blue - gree - blu - gr – bl…
Hydro Zorbing has the Zorbonaut not harnessed in the Zorb but free with a bucket of water. The rider and up to two others slide on the bottom of the Zorb, face first, feet first, sitting down, standing up or backwards. In winter hot water is used giving riders a sauna on wheels. It’s like taking a spa traveling at 50 km along the highway. It’s incredibly refreshing and just another stupid thing to do while you're on a vacation.
The Zylinder is developed just for children who are too young or small to go into the big Zorbs. They are nice and safe and can run around on the flat ground and with the opening at either end get in and out real easy.
Naming rights for all venues, rinks, courts, fields, dressing rooms, hall ways, seats, etc., would sold creating new revenue for the city. Engraved construction bricks can be sold.
A new roadway would connect Notre Dame to Westmount and all connecting roads off of LaSalle and this will dramatically alleviate traffic on LaSalle Boulevard and eliminate the need to construct the Maley Drive extension; a savings of 50 million $! No heavy trucks would be permitted to travel on this road and huge fees for doing so will be imposed.
We can close this road at anytime and host up to 1 million people - the area is that large - for a special event in the heart of the city, which is within walking distance from three populated sections of the city.
Once our sportsylvania ice casino is built we would close all of our arenas and the Sudbury curling club, other than the Sudbury Arena and the arena in Levack. We would sell them if possible and create a lump sum of cash for the city's piggy bank, eliminate all operating expenses, i.e., 14 phone bills, hydro bills, heating bills, snow removal contracts, and add 14 new ratepayers to our tax roll. The arenas that cannot be sold will be converted into manufacturing plants and we will bring jobs to our Citizens.
Underground parking would forever eliminate our current 14 arena / curling club snow removal contracts. One location will eliminate at least 8 arena zamboni's and drastically reduce the city's cost of maintaining our sports fields around the city. Workers would no long have to drive around the city, as it's all in one location. We no long have to provide police and fire service to 14 locations, as it's all in one location. The money saved would be spent to improve bus service to this complex from all parts of the city.
With Sportsylvania in place the city could also apply to hold the Gravity Games &/or X Games.
The Gravity Games is a multi-sport competition that is broken down into Winter and Summer adaptations. These feature a variety of extreme sports such as , skateboarding, Freestyle Motocross, BMX freestyle during the summer and snowboarding during the winter.
The X Games is an annual multi-sport event with a focus on action sports. The games are broken into seasons: the Winter X Games—held in January or February—and the X Games—usually held in August.
Competitors perform in many different categories and styles, trying to win bronze, silver and gold medals, as well as prize money. The competition often features never-before-seen tricks. Concurrent with competition is the so-named X Fest—ultimate action sports and music festival, which offers live music, athlete autograph sessions, interactive elements, a mini skate park and BMX park, demos, and more.
Sportsylvania would be sports-tacular!
The city's version is a joke.
We already many pools and all lose money due to poor locations. They want to add another one. Another rink can already be added to Countyside arena and Barrydowne could be reopened. Why waste 30 million when a simple solution is available.
Sportsylvania would pay for itself in less than 15 years.
|
|
|
|
Post by Max on Nov 22, 2007 3:35:23 GMT -3
On October 19th the consultant advised council the rec centre would cost 30 million bucks.
On November 1 the costs jumped to 56 million.
A 26 million $ increase in less than two weeks.
The Performing Arts was 60 million on October 19 and 75 million on November 1.
A 15 million $ increase.
A total of 41 million $ over budget.
|
|
