Councillors pan stadium design tweaks
Emma Reilly thespec.com May 14/2013
Disappointing. Bland. Nondescript.
These are only some of the words councillors are using to describe the design of the $145.7-million Pan Am stadium.
Councillors on the planning committee got a glimpse of the most recent renderings of the stadium Tuesday. Though the final design hasn't been approved, city staff say they're now satisfied the stadium meets all of the city's urban design guidelines.
However, councillors didn't like what they saw.
"When I look at this stadium, it has no theme, no character, it's bland and nondescript," said Councillor Chad Collins. "It looks like a high school stadium you might see in the Southern U.S., where football is huge."
However, as Councillor Lloyd Ferguson points out, they have little control over the design at this point.
"We can't take the time to get it right, because we have to have it ready by July 1, 2014. I think it's really touch-and-go that we'll get there, and I just don't want us to wear any of the blame for delaying them," he said. "The whole thing's so uncomfortable."
City staff have been working on a tweaked design for the past several months with Ontario Sports Solutions, the consortium in charge of building the stadium. The first attempt did not conform to the city's urban design guidelines, and of particular concern was the fact that the design called for the underside of the stands to be exposed to the street.
In the updated rendering, several changes were made including lightening the colours, adding mesh screening and banners to hide the underside of the stands, and placing additional seating and art in the public square planned for the corner of Cannon Street and Balsam Avenue.
The individual masonry pieces have been shrunk to the same size as the bricks in the surrounding homes, while bands of contrasting stonework have been added at street level for pedestrian interest.
Despite these changes, councillors were overwhelmingly unimpressed with the design.
Councillor Terry Whitehead, who was particularly concerned about the exposed stands, says the proposed solution is nothing more than "mosquito netting" and "posters."
"I don't think a bunch of banners and screening on the back side of the stadium is a legacy whatsoever," said Whitehead.
Meanwhile, the city is still in negotiations with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats about the long-term stadium lease. The team and the city have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in place that outlines the basics of the agreement, but the terms of the formal 20-year lease are still being worked out.
Ferguson says the delay is being caused by some extra requests from the Tiger-Cats that aren't included in the MOU. However, since the lease is still under negotiation, Ferguson says he can't say exactly what's causing the problem.
"It's been suggested there should be some additional items that aren't in the MOU," he said.
However, Ticats president Scott Mitchell says it's been "a very, very positive, productive process. I don't see any reason why we're not going to bring this to fruition. There haven't been issues whatsoever."
In the MOU, the city agreed to pay the full costs of the Ticats' practice facility during the reconstruction of the stadium.
Ferguson says that facility isn't needed until June, which gives both sides another month or so to come up with an agreement.
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