Second NHL arena document released by Markham city hall

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 14, 2015
By Laura Finney

Another document from the proposed Markham NHL-sized arena has been released.

The economic report titled: Exploratory Economic Impact Analysis of a Major Sports/Event Arena in Markham Centre, prepared by Markham’s Economic Development Department, is now available on Councillor Karen Rea’s website.

“It’s a step in the right direction, there are two reports that have been released so far, I’d like all of them released,” she said.

The report, which was dated Jan. 22, 2011, looked at the potential quantum of ongoing benefits of an arena for the city over 10 years in terms of: food and beverage sales, hotel accommodation sales, real estate assessment/taxes and the annual impact of events hosted in Markham, the region and province.

It looked at the benefits both with an NHL team and without an NHL team.

“In the absence of a Major League sport tenant (i.e. an NHL or NBA captive user capable of using the arena to its designed per occasion capacity), the arena will need to aggressively compete for its bookings, and will only be at capacity on special occasions,” the report reads, adding the arena would have commenced operation with dependence on an AHL or OHL team, and single occasion bookings, “growing over time to include major tournaments and major multiple-day events.”

This is the second report to be released after the Information and Privacy Commissioner ruled Markham needed to reconsider its decision not to release arena documents and make part of the KPMG work plan agreement public in an interim order earlier this year.

According to the IPC report the city used a number of exemptions to not release the reports including third party information.

The IPC report said that the mandatory third party information exemption did not apply, but Rea said the city challenged that. The IPC should have a final decision with the remaining documents by the fall, she said.

The economic report that was just released was done by city staff, so there was no third party authorisation. But Rea said she does not know why it was kept confidential.

“I don’t know why any of them were being kept confidential,” she said. “I can see them being kept confidential while the negotiations were being done. But now the negations have ceased, those reports are obsolete. The city should voluntarily release those reports.”

Rea had filed the complaints to the privacy commissioner in 2012 on behalf of a ratepayers group, before she was elected as a councillor.

The plan for an NHL arena fell through in 2013, but reports related to the $350-million proposal which would have seen the city borrow money for the construction, have remained secret. The documents cost the city $750,000.

In February, Rea brought a motion to make the documents public, but Mayor Frank Scarpitti ruled the motion out of order, citing the freedom of information and privacy act.

To view the report visit Karen Rea’s website: http://karenrea.ca/arena-documents/