Peterborough residents had their first chance to see the new artist renderings and site plans for the new twin-pad arena and aquatics complex that is slated to be built at Morrow Park.
The drop-in, open house-style event was held Wednesday afternoon at the Peterborough Library.
There, residents could view several boards with drawings and information on them and submit questions for a virtual public information session that evening.
“Just a first look at the boards for those who don’t have access to computers necessarily. So they can come in and view the boards that are on display,” said Gillian Barnes, project manager for facilities and planning initiatives with the city.
The project will be completed in two phases.
The first phase includes:
- A twin pad arena with 500 seats at each pad;
- An elevated walking/running track;
- Twelve team change rooms and two official rooms;
- A team training centre;
- Office / Administration / Customer Service space for City staff;
- Office space leased to sport group(s);
- A concession stand;
- Two multipurpose rooms;
- Public washrooms, elevator and storage;
- Landscaping and parking;
- 5,000 sq. ft Library branch space
The planned future phase two, dependent on future funding, includes a competitive 25-metre, eight-lane pool, warm-up therapy pool and changerooms.
Barnes says the facility will have sustainable features.
“We’ve made sure the architect and the consulting team are very cognizant of the sustainable measures the city has to look forward to for the future,” Barnes said.
“We’re making sure the building has a high intensity of mechanical improved systems and futureproofing it as well.”
Barnes said that includes native planting that doesn’t need much irrigation, choosing materials for the building that has longevity with carbon neutral design and low carbon footprint.
A Facebook group called ‘Friends of Morrow Park’, that opposes having the facility built at the park, has around 360 members.
A post by one of the group’s members Wednesday called on members to attend the open house event on Wednesday as well as the information session that evening to make comments on the project.
“We’ve spoken to council at every opportunity and there were many objections made for a variety of reasons,” Ruby Rowan of Friends of Morrow Park tells Global News Peterborough.
“We’ve collected over 1,000 signatures on change.org from people from the Morrow Park community that don’t want this development on this land. That’s more than the city collected in favour of the project.”
Rowan says the group is speaking with two lawyers on Thursday to see if there are any legalities that can stop the project at it’s location.
“There are a number of legal reasons why that could happen, not the least of which would be the Morrow Trust. The conditions the land was given to the city — the land was supposed to be used for the agricultural industry — and so this is not consistent with that,” Rowan said.
“There are also violations with previous agreements made to not develop a certain percentage of the land and leave a percentage of the land, which the city is not doing.
“People would like to see conditions of the trust honoured and some are not pleased with the city just ignoring that.”
Rowan said the group is also taking note of councillors who are supporting the project at the location and says it will be an election issue come October.
As for the project, a site plan application is now in the works and construction on phase one is expected to start in the late summer and take about two years to complete.
There is no set timeline for the construction of the second phase of the project.
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