Sports

Staff Report on Stadium Debate: East Mountain More Costly, More Risky, and Diverts Funds From Economic Development

By RTH Staff
Published August 06, 2010

A staff report (PDF) released for the August 10th, Committee of the Whole confirms media reports that the East Mountain stadium would costs tens of millions of dollars more than one built in the West Harbour location, even after factoring in a last minute offer by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to pay for 6,000 parking spots.

In addition, the report shows that on an annual basis, the East Mountain site will cost taxpayers $1.2 to $4.8 million in forgone taxes. The additional capital costs are a combination of site servicing (e.g. road infrastructure), and forgone revenues the City would receive if the land is developed for other uses.

While the report included two East Mountain scenarios (Full Precinct and No Precinct), it doesn’t go into detail about what a full precinct development would look like other than to say "adjacent uses" that would likely be Big Box development.

The report also warns of significant financial risk to the city with the East Mountain site if full precinct development does take place in the future, as it would "represent a significant financial pressure and shortfall" since the extra capital required to support the stadium would have been spent upfront by the City with the expectation they would be paid back over time through growth.

In addition, in order to help pay for the City’s portion of servicing costs, the report suggests that funds are not currently available and that $10 million of previously committed grants in support of the Glanbrook Industrial Park would have to be diverted towards the East Mountain development.

This blog post has been expanded into an article.

12 Comments

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By arienc (registered) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 15:15:47

Is it over? Was all the public support for naught???

http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews...

"According to Councillor Brad Clark, Mayor Fred Eisenberger and Ticats president Scott Mitchell received a call from the office of MPP Sophia Aggelonitis this morning informing them that both the province and feds were pulling their funding from west harbour"

So the provincial and federal governments are now going to veto what seem to be the wishes of a good portion of the city??? And hopefully the province and feds are ging to pony up the extra $55 million it's going to cost to put the stadium there (less the Cats contribution)?

Democracy? Pffffffft.

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By JimmyS (registered) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 15:18:09

there are some seriously heavy duty rumours flying around town today about the provincial Liberals about to stick their nose into this and toss Hamilton's interests aside in favour of a couple of prominent 'Liberals' running for office in Hamilton as well as some provincial Liberal ridings in Mississuaga.

Here is the short version. Can anyone verify or add to this?

  1. Province will come out in support of EM this weekend
  2. This will allow them to divert LRT money from Hamilton to Hurontario St in Mississuaga
  3. They think this will benefit the provincial Liberals in Mississauga as well as local Liberals such as Larry DiIanni in Hamilton

It would be a typical and disgusting move motivated by politics only and no substance (which we've known all along has already been happening behind the scenes with some of above mentioned players).

One more piece to the rumour - Council will ratify the WH next week.

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By UrbanRenaissance (registered) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 15:25:46

I have a feeling this may just be the rumour mill working over time. Just like the supposed "deal" the Mayor was offering to the Ti Cats. The province and the feds have said repeatedly that it's up to the city to decide where the stadium should go. And given how badly this mess has polarized out city, it would be political suicide to wade into this debate. Especially when the ones who should be making the decision will be doing so in mere days.

Comment edited by UrbanRenaissance on 2010-08-06 14:26:43

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By Be T (anonymous) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 15:37:27

Comments with a score below -5 are hidden by default.

You can change or disable this comment score threshold by registering an RTH user account.

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By jason (registered) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 15:48:37

Portion of an email I just received on this issue:

......"don't believe the part in that article that makes it sound like the feds took the first step and the province is merely following suit. The feds are more than willing to be the 'fall guy' here due to their lack of support in Hamilton.

This was initiated by the province, and Hamiltonians who care about the WH site and cleaning up dangerous, toxic brownfields in the heart of our city need to focus their attention on seeing DiIanni and any provincial Liberal candidate defeated in their respective upcoming elections. They are all willing to play politics with our future".....

End email.

This is another sad chapter in Hamilton politics if everything ends up being true. Based on the spec article, it appears as though it just might be.

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By Dalton who? (anonymous) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 16:00:16

I wouldn't put much stock in that article though. TALK about innuendo.

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By bigguy1231 (registered) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 16:14:53

You can thank Dave Braley for this. He is the one and only person responsible for the unprecidented federal and provincial interference in a municipal decision. He may not say much in public, but you can be sure his dirty little hands are all over this if it is true. Dave Braley gets whatever he wants and he wants a suburban stadium.

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By Be T (anonymous) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 16:21:08

The provs and feds ARE going with the wishes of a good portion of the city.

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By jason (registered) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 16:38:00

Here is the short version. Can anyone verify or add to this?

Province will come out in support of EM this weekend This will allow them to divert LRT money from Hamilton to Hurontario St in Mississuaga They think this will benefit the provincial Liberals in Mississauga as well as local Liberals such as Larry DiIanni in Hamilton.

This is exactly right. It will certainly help them in Mississuaga, but poor old Larry DiIanni has just seen any slim hope he had of being re-elected evaporate.
LRT is gone now too. Bad day for the Hammer. Can we just split and start our own province?? I know Toronto always talks about that, but we're the ones who constantly get ripped off.

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By Be T (anonymous) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 16:48:15

Lets up vote fools like jason while down voting those who disagree with the party line here. Thats democarcy fer ya!

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By bigguy1231 (registered) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 16:57:16

We only downvote trolls. Who have nothing more than one liners to add to the debate.

Comment edited by bigguy1231 on 2010-08-06 16:09:42

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By Real E (anonymous) | Posted August 06, 2010 at 23:41:31

Get real bigguy1231. None of the regulars here want to hear anything that doesn't agree with them. Take an honest look at what gets censored by the members. Hell, this comment doesn't fit the definition of trolling but will be shot down by the morning.

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