Sport Aurora pitches plan for former Hallmark building to Aurora council

YorkRegion.com
Aug. 13, 2015
Teresa Latchford  

Sport Aurora has a grand vision to build a multi-use, one-stop recreation shop and is asking council to commit to the plan.

An unoccupied building at 100 Vandorf Sdrd. — known to residents as the former Hallmark building — has the potential to become a multi-sport use facility, according to Stephen Kimmerer and Bruce Stafford, who presented their plan to council on behalf of the organization earlier this week.

“We think it could serve the sporting community who are in need of more space,” Kimmerer said. “It’s only limited by any engineering solutions and financial boundaries.”

A portion of the building has 42-foot-high ceilings and existing rows, defined by metal columns, measuring nine feet by nine feet. The building already has an existing cafeteria. The high ceilings alone would be ideal for vertical sports such as volleyball.

With a digital mock-up created by Stafford, council could see what could be included in the building. The virtual floor plan showed a 50-foot swimming pool, baseball space, volleyball and tennis courts and a gymnastics area all under one roof.

“Any combination of multiuse space this building could host,” Kimmerer said.

The fact that the building is adjacent to land already owned by the town means there would be potential to add outdoor facilities, including lights, running track, soccer pitch, baseball diamond and extended parking all the way through, making it a complete sport centre.

He also pointed out there is little to no residential neighbourhoods in the area, so lighting and noise from outdoor facilities wouldn’t be an imposition on residents.

“We ask that this council direct staff...to investigate the possibility and feasibility of the town partnering with sport and recreation providers by either purchasing, leasing or leasing-to-own this property providing customized specialty training and competition space for the betterment of athletes in Aurora,” Kimmerer said as he wrapped up his presentation.

While the delegates couldn’t comment on what the full cost to retrofit the building would be nor comment on a funding source, Stafford pointed out the building would be locked up during the exploration and Sport Aurora would be better able to gauge who would be interested in leasing space and signing on the dotted line.

He also pointed out leasing the space would be preferred over a permit system as it would allow the sport and recreation providers to use their own funds to make the needed changes within the space.

Councillor Paul Pirri asked if a public-private partnership had been considered for the project to which Stafford replied, “Not yet”.

Council accepted the presentation and directed staff to explore further, specifically under the umbrella of the sport and recreation master plan and report back to council with the findings.