City eyes ‘regional sports park’ in south London: ‘Now’s the time’

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Hold onto your hats sports fans, London is looking to upgrade its sport venue options amid explosive population growth.

Up for public input at Tuesday’s planning and environment committee is a city hall-led rezoning proposal at 3640 Dingman Dr., near where Highway 402 meets Highway 401, for a “regional sports park” on 13.5 hectares.

“This sports park is intended to accommodate multiple sports fields and serve as a neighbourhood park for the surrounding community and the city as a whole,” city staff write in a report. “The sports park will generally be programmed by the City of London to service sports associations and tournaments and can include (fully lit) sports fields, parking lots, pathways and washroom facilities.”

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The pitch comes at the same time as the city is seeking to update its parks and recreation master plan from 2019, mostly to rework its “out of date” growth projections. The London-region, one of the fastest growing in the country, is projected to add 50 per cent more people during the next 25 years.

Such a facility would be the second of its kind in London. City Wide Sports Park, on Commissioners Road near Highbury Avenue, has two baseball diamonds, and two artificial turf fields, one for soccer and one for football.

City staff say there isn’t a concrete plan for the amenities in the proposed park yet as they look to consult the public next year.

Coun. Steve Lehman, chair of the planning committee, said he is “pretty jazzed” about the proposal, and acknowledges a sizable outdoor tournament centre is overdue in a city of half a million people.

“When St. Thomas built their sports fields, I heard about it all the time . . . St. Thomas can do it, why can’t London?” he said. “With the tremendous growth we’re projecting in the next 20 years . . . now’s the time to start putting in things such as this before we’re jammed up with concrete.”

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Lehman said he’s happy to see a proposal in the city’s south where future development will be focused. The park’s location, near highways 401 and 402, could be a tourism draw, and further play into London’s role as a hub in Southwestern Ontario, he said.

Deputy mayor Shawn Lewis, who sits on both the Tourism London board and the planning committee, agrees. Not only is a new park overdue, he said, but City Wide park already needs upgrades for how busy it is.

“From a sports tourism perspective, our bread and butter is the local tournaments, whether that be hockey or soccer or cricket,” Lewis said. “There is still an economic spinoff from having a facility that can host those regional tournaments and bring people into the city, even if it’s to play for a day.”

The need for more sport fields already has been highlighted recently by city staff, along with the need to continue working with Western University, Fanshawe College and London’s two school boards for community access to their facilities.

The latest four-year budget included a $6 million pitch from city staff to add three more artificial turf fields, and to explore partnerships for creating new fields to meet increasing sports demand as the city’s population booms. It was not funded.

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“The number of rectangular sports fields is adequate at the present time, but demand is expected to increase as the city grows,” the budget submission said. “It is projected that up to 28 additional rectangular fields will be required by 2039, a rate of approximately three fields every two years.”

A day before hearing the Dingman proposal, politicians also will be presented with the components of the parks master plan up for review. On top of growth projections, city hall is looking to study what kinds of parks and park upgrades London needs, and partnering with school boards and businesses.

Coun. David Ferreira, chair of the community and protective services committee, said while the plan already was up for review, it comes at a “very different time” than what was planned five years ago. He’s happy to see the variety of things city staff will look at.

“A good city has places where people have things to do, and there’s lots of different people who have different things that they would like to do,” Ferreira said. “That diversity of public spaces is what you need to make the city as best as it can be.”

jmoulton@postmedia.com

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