Soccer Northwest Ontario will make its case for forging ahead with the indoor turf facility.
President Michael Veneziale will talk to City Council at tonight’s meeting, and says he doesn’t think they should delay the project further like city staff are suggesting.
“In the eleventh hour, somebody always comes up with a new idea of how to proceed or maybe another possible new building, it always ends up costing more money, a waste of time, and we always come back to the exact same position. It’s the full-sized city facility that is required,” Veneziale says.
The soccer group president says the city should view the sports facility as a long-term goal, instead of trying to replace it with short-term solutions.
He notes a private project to build a single-field sports dome doesn’t appear to be on track to open this fall as planned. Veneziale adds even if that field was available, it isn’t what local sports groups need.
“Although it would be kind of a very small step in a positive direction, it doesn’t really get us anywhere, and that’s the problem that keeps coming up,” he says. “Everybody has these quick, short gap solutions, but nothing that’s an actual solution that will help our city, now and going forward.”
The soccer group president says the project is worth sticking with.
“This has the ability to help out children, youth, adults, in a way that money shouldn’t be attached to it. I understand it always is, but money shouldn’t be attached to it. I understand it always is, but money should not be the final determining factor, it should be the benefits of it and how much it’s going to help out our community,” Veneziale says.
City administration are recommending they stop moving forward with the turf facility project until as late as November 2021.
