Editor, The News:
Re: Onni offers sports fields (The News, May 17).
At Tuesday’s Pitt Meadows council meeting, we were introduced to the latest Onni plans for phases 3 and 4 of the Golden Ears Business Park. Prominent in the plan is a new 11-acre civic sports facility.
According to Coun. Janis Elkerton, the amenity contribution from Onni would be unprecedented in the community, if not the region. The amenity proposal includes the land, which would allow for enough space to accommodate an eight-lane running track around a CFL-size football field.
There would also be a soccer field, viewing areas, 115 parking spaces and landscaped buffers from surrounding properties. The agreement would also allow field users to park in the business park on evenings and weekends.
“I think it sets a precedent for the best [amenity] deal ever negotiated in the Lower Mainland,” said Elkerton. “This is the best deal Pitt Meadows has ever seen.”
Chief Administrative Officer Mark Roberts estimated the land that would be given to the city could be worth as much as $16 million. Both he and the city’s consultants on the project, IBI Group, considered it an unprecedented amenity contribution.
The hook to the deal is that the city would have to relax regulations and allow Onni to build the warehouses to a height of 15 metres – that’s three higher than currently allowed.
About half way through Tuesday’s meeting, I finally clued in that Onni is only giving the land, and the city will have to pay for everything else.
I made a few calls to local civic planners and their estimates of the costs of building the envisioned sports facility would be anywhere between $5-7 million.
The $ 3.2 million squirreled away in the parks reserve fund won’t be nearly enough.
As much as I strongly support community sports, council is selling us out if they agree to this.
Coun. David Murray was practically salivating at the thought that the new facility would attract the likes of the B.C. Lions for training.
Really councillor?
The Lions are going to come to train at our new CFL-sized field without the addition of a supporting multi-million dollar field house? I think not.
Some council members are acting likes crows – diving after some shiny bauble dangled in front of their face. Please stop it. We don’t need this sports field at the cost of ruining our community by building phases 3 and 4. People aren’t against developing the properties – just not industrial space please.
If the crows refuse to listen to the overwhelming community voices against the expansion of this industrial warehouse project, then I suspect the 11 acres will remain a patch of dirt for some time to come.
The Lions won’t be coming anytime soon to the ‘field of dreams.’ Maybe we could plant corn and wait for the Chicago White Sox to appear?
Rory Thompson
Pitt Meadows