On Tuesday, June 20th Mayor Savage and Council approved the proposal for a private stadium on the public Wanderers’ Grounds. Friends of Halifax Common (FHC) have outlined our serious concerns about the bias of the City’s Staff Report and the staff’s recommendation to fast-track the approval for the pop-up stadium in a letter we delivered to City Council. In the letter, we do not object to the private-for-profit “pop-up” stadium proposal, but we do oppose the Wanderers’ Grounds as the location. See letter: 2017 FHC Mayor & Council, June stadium, staff report

Illustration of Proposed Pop-up Stadium on the Halifax Wanderers’ Grounds (a section of the publicly-owned Halifax Common)

The private stadium developer has stated that, “By two years of that three-year cycle, I think we’ll have a great idea on whether or not that site works and is there a desire for something more permanent on that site.” read more…

This important public civic space is already used to near-capacity by amateur sports players of all ages. The Stadium proposal favouring a professional team would take away at least 20% of present public use and entertain passive spectators to make a profit. HRM Staff do not address the pro-ponent’s stated goal of having a long-term permanent stadium. Nor do they mention public tax payers have recently spent ~$ 1 million in fixing up the Grounds. Concerns about noise, parking, the effect on the area (Public Gardens, hospitals, Bengal Lancers, the Citadel, Camphill Cemetery) or the loss of citizens’ recreational space are being brushed aside.

Stadium seating for 6,000 including sixty port-a-potties, as well as shipping containers for food and alcohol are about to be approved without a Masterplan for the Halifax Common or any public consultation.

The 1994 Halifax Common Plan was a positive outcome of the collision between the for-profit, private use of the Halifax Common for the Moosehead Grand Prix and a groundswell of steadfast public unwillingness to endure that private use and its inconveniences. Comments from these documents mention that the public was fed up with how ad hoc the city was in its decisions about the common and a lack of process.

Its 2017. This makes twenty-three years of waiting for a Halifax Common Masterplan.

Contact City Hall with your opinions regarding privatization of the use of the Halifax Wanderers’ Grounds.