No second life for arena: Markham politicians

Markham Economist & Sun
January 28, 2014
By Amanda Persico

Markham councillors said they were surprised to see a report last week that the GTA Centre arena proposal was still brewing.

After more than a month of silence, The Hockey News reported the 20,000-seat, NHL ready arena was still alive.

A column by hockey writer Ken Campbell suggested Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti has been in talks with developers since council voted in favour of a privately funded arena in December and there is an arena subcommittee meeting to discuss this plan.

“This is news to me,” deputy mayor and Regional Councillor Jack Heath said. “There is no information anything is happening on the arena project. Reporters find out faster than us. Council spoke very strongly about the arena being 100 per cent privately funded.”

He also noted there is no indication of an upcoming arena subcommittee meeting.

On his Facebook page, Mr. Heath referred to an e-mail in which Mayor Frank Scarpitti denied The Hockey News story.

A request by the Economist & Sun for comment from the mayor went unanswered.

Mr. Heath’s Facebook post prompted a slew of comments from residents questioning the article.

“Maybe the mayor is contacting the developers on his own time, if there is such a thing, and did not do it on behalf of the city?” wrote Robert Mok, a director with the Markham Citizens Coalition for Responsive Government.

Without confirmation from the mayor, many residents questioned the Hockey News article.

“A recent published story says the GTASE proposal could be coming back,” Mr. Heath responded. “I worked to defeat the proposal ... There are no hints at the city that any arena discussions with GTASE are happening. I’m not even sure they remain a viable entity.”

Mr. Heath also defended the mayor and encouraged residents not to take the article too seriously.

The whole thing doesn’t sit well with Councillor Valerie Burke.

“It didn’t surprise me,” she said in an interview. “But my heart sank when I saw it. I thought, ‘Not this again.’ I’ve heard nothing about any of this. Only to find out in the paper.”

She also noted there was no arena subcommittee meeting listed in her calendar.

Ms Burke has double reason for concern. During the marathon meetings in December, during which council voted in favour of a privately funded arena, Ms Burke wanted it spelled out, there would be no city ownership of the proposed GTA Centre.

Her suggestion was not included in the council minutes from Dec. 2 to 5, which are to be ratified at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

“I’m not happy the door was left open,” she said. “We voted against it. I thought that put an end to it. It was like a bad dream.”

Hearing accusations the mayor was out and about soliciting developers, didn’t come as a surprise to ward Councillor Don Hamilton.

“That’s how we got the voluntary levies (developer contributions). But it seems he is flogging a dead horse. I don’t see the point. Council made it pretty clear.”

After meeting separately with the city’s CAO and local developers, the $10 million in developer contributions has been returned, Mr. Hamilton added.

There are just over four months left on a six-month window where interested parties are to provide proof of $325 million funding, as there is a site plan in place for the arena project.

“I’m not worried,” Mr. Hamilton said. “The GTA Centre website was shut down. Graeme Roustan has moved on to greener pastures.”

SIDEBAR

Roustan has left the building

The only remnant of Markham’s NHL dream is a website and a logo.

Gone are the details about a 20,000 seat, NHL-ready arena in the new downtown Markham area.

Words such as public-private partnership, financial framework, special levies, developer contributions and memorandum of understanding have all but disappeared from the Markham dialect.

All that’s left of a project that divided the city and pitted residents against city councillors for the past couple of years is a blank website – gtacentre.ca and gtase.ca

In December, council voted in favour of a privately funded arena.

Shortly after the three-day marathon of deputations, GTA Centre proponents changed the website to reflect council’s decision and removed information related to a private-public partnership.

By the end of the month, there was a Happy Holidays and Happy New Year greeting for the community.

Now, only a logo, a page holder with no contact information, no information about GTA Sports and Entertainment as a company or its chairperson, Graeme Roustan.

When asked what happened to information on the website, Mr. Roustan responded ‘It’s gone!’ in a text message.

Asked if he was still pursuing an arena in Markham, he responded, ‘No comment.’

It’s unclear if the website is simply in transition.

Removing information and hosting an empty website doesn’t come as a surprise to Councillor Don Hamilton.

“The matter is closed,” he said. “Council dealt with it. So, I’m not surprised the website is gone.”

Deputy mayor and Regional Councillor Jack Heath agreed.

“I knew a long time ago (the arena) wouldn’t work unless it was privately funded,” he said. “Council has moved on to other things.”

Council’s resolution called for interested parties to provide proof of $325 million funding within six months to move forward with the project.

“The financial framework didn’t work before and it won’t work in six months,” Mr. Hamilton said.

In terms of other interested parties, there are none, Mr. Heath said.

“I haven’t heard of any others interested,” he said. “But, we were in the dark for a while, too.”

“It’s strange the website just disappeared,” added Karen Rea, a director of the Markham Citizens Coalition for Responsive Government, an organization dedicated to opposing the arena.

“We’re hoping it’s over and done with. But we’re still not 100 per cent convinced it’s a dead issue.”

Minutes from the December meetings still have to be approved and there is the remainder of the resolution that called for further review on the implications of a municipal capital facility, as well as a review of the memorandum of understanding from the development community and from GTASE.

“There has been nothing official from the city,” Ms Rea said. “There was a holiday message on the (GTA Centre) website. But there was no final message."