BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to a story titled 'Navy League president says sports field, parade grounds 'would be good for us',' published June 28.
Regarding the multi-purpose sports field on the waterfront, some clarity is required please.
The Navy League president has stated in a previous BarrieToday article that the Sea Cadets/Navy League would use the parade grounds two to four times a week, weather permitting. I would like to drill down further on this.
Feedback from the Sea Cadets for a parade ground. These questions would be asked of the Sea Cadets:
- When do the marches and additional training take place during the day?
- How many hours for the marches and additional training?
- When there is inclement weather during the May-September time frame, is there any marching in an indoor setting? If so, where does the marching take place?
- In the winter/spring months, from October to April, are there any marches in an indoor setting? If so, where does the marching take place?
Feedback from the other key stakeholders for this multi-purpose sports field. This is the feedback already gathered.
From Development Services, Sept. 20, 2023
Recommended Motion
ANALYSIS
15. Staff were directed to explore opportunities for engagement with community youth groups (specifically, youth sport groups including Barrie Minor Baseball, Barrie & District Girls Softball, Huronia Stallions Football, Barrie Rugby, Barrie Soccer Club, and Barrie Minor Lacrosse) regarding the waterfront strategic plan update through motion 23-G-152. One Zoom session and two Teams meetings were held with the specified youth sport groups.
Key themes of the consultation summary included:
- More facilities: All the youth sport organizations agree that more facilities are needed.
- Waterfront: Some favour the waterfront as a strong central location which would highlight their sport, but most still prefer to use cost-effective large sport complexes where multiple facilities can be used at one time for various age groups, with convenient parking for cars and buses during regular games and large tournaments.
- Turf: Some sports preferred artificial turf and would support any proposal that would bring this to Barrie.
- Sports Dome: Rugby and Soccer would like to see another sports dome with artificial turf for winter use.
Based on the feedback, if the multi-purpose sports field is only used for a period of approximately five months, and does not meet the requirements of the key stakeholders, does it make any sense to spend approximately $4.6 million?
This is taxpayers' money and it just seems that to spend this much money on a field that would only be used for a short period of time, in a location that a large portion of residents do not want, does not make sense.
We should take a pause here. My understanding, after witnessing a Ward 6 and 7 town hall on June 24, that there is a small group of people working behind the scenes on a report about a proposed multi-sport field and parade ground that will be handed to the mayor by the end of the summer.
The mayor, council and staff should take a step back, stop working on project to tender (RFPs that have been produced for this spot only) and look at the project as a whole and get clarity on outstanding questions before moving forward.
Why not look at a dome for one of our existing rectangular fields, or perhaps in one of the two new school yards in the south end?
For the Sea Cadets/Navy League, some options:
Option 1: Look at using the open field on the west side of the existing parking lot in front of the General John Hayter Southshore Community Centre on drill and additional practice nights.
Option 2: Look at blocking off the left half of the existing parking lot in front of the General John Hayter Southshore Community Centre on drill and additional practice nights. Cars will be able to go and park at one of approximately 80-some-odd spots along the right side of Lakeshore Drive if they cannot fit into the right side of the parking lot.
Option 3: Look at putting a new, paved, multi-use parking lot to the west of the existing parking lot in front of the General John Hayter Southshore Community Centre. This parking lot can be used for the drills and additional practice, it is much closer to the facilities at the community centre and will be a much shorter walk to the drill and practice field. This parking lot can also be configured in such a way that folks at Kempenfest can use the parking lot to place their stage and bandstand.
With all three of these options, during inclement weather the Sea Cadets could pivot back to the Armoury for their drills and parade.
Once again, some clarity is required please.
Why is this the only location that a multi-purpose sports field and parade ground can go?
Terry Forrester
Barrie
