The following story was posted in the General Updates and News section.
(source:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-s...osal-1.2659592)
Halifax Forum could close under new arena proposal
City staff recommending 2 major recreation projects to replace aging facilities
CBC News Posted: May 30, 2014 1:16 PM AT Last Updated: May 30, 2014 5:48 PM AT
Two major recreation projects are being contemplated for the Halifax region, with municipal staff recommending two new arenas be built to replace a number of aging facilities, including the Halifax Forum and the Centennial Arena.
City councillors with the audit and finance committee will meet Thursday to discuss the proposal and are being asked to recommend it to regional council.
While the prospect of new arenas is being welcomed in a city where ice time is a hot commodity, some are unhappy older facilities could be forced to shut their doors.
The chairman of the Halifax Forum Community Association says he’s "stunned" by the recommendation of city bureaucrats and vows his group will fight any attempt to close the complex.
....
There are quite a few factors that have been considered for the Long Term Arena Strategy initiated on August 14, 2012 and discussed in the following two documents from halifax.ca. There are also renderings for various alternatives.
http://www.halifax.ca/boardscom/SCcp...1schedules.pdf
http://www.halifax.ca/boardscom/SCcp...sc41report.pdf
The Community Planning & Economic Development Standing Committee is recommending that the Halifax Forum and Civic arenas be declared surplus and be replaced by a 4-pad arena complex at CFB Windsor Park. This has some pros and cons:
Pros:
1) It is likely the cheapest option since it would be a joint venture with DND and it would free up the Forum site for redevelopment.
2) As mentioned in the Community Planning Committee report, this could result in the Halifax Forum being demolished and broken into smaller blocks with more street frontage.
3) It would allow ageing arenas to be replaced with a more central 4-pad arena with lower operating cost.
Cons:
1) The Halifax Forum is a part of the Halifax heritage since it opened in 1927 and some people have fond memories of various events that were held there.
2) The Halifax Forum currently has 4,610 seats for ice events and can seat an additional 1250 for staged events (source:
http://www.halifaxforum.ca/venues/halifax-forum). This seating capacity would be lost as a secondary venue to the Metro Centre.
Another 4-pad arena is also being proposed in Dartmouth with a recommended site of Shannon Park. A stadium is also briefly mentioned as having being considered for Shannon Park. Although not discussed in the report, developing the site for a 4-pad arena would likely include some of the servicing for Shannon Park that would also be required for a future stadium (parking, roads, demolitions of some old military buildings, etc).