The head of Soccer Northwest calls Council’s commitment to starting work on the indoor turf facility the first “concrete step” toward the project.
However, Michael Veneziale isn’t resting on his laurels.
Veneziale says he’s happy with last night’s decision, but the $30 million project isn’t in the clear yet.
“It’s not a done deal by any means to me. I love the fact that we’ve moved forward with this step, but we’re going to continue to do everything we can to make it happen, including fundraising efforts.”
Last night, Council removed six tennis courts from the first stage of the facility, which the Soccer Northwest official says will let the project proceed faster.
He wasn’t pleased when the courts were added onto the project at the previous meeting in June, but Veneziale points out he isn’t against tennis courts being included at a later date.
“I was just worried about not having all the information to make sure that it was feasible, so that kind of just halted it for another month. But I really believe the way the mayor proceeded is going to make sure that that is going to be the best available [option] for all user groups.”
Council decided last night to go ahead with around $4 million worth of engineering work for the indoor turf project, and apply for $1 million from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation towards that cost.
