The Calgary Multisport Fieldhouse continues to churn ahead, as a request for proposals has been issued for a master plan for the city lands where the building will sit.
The councillor who chairs the city’s fieldhouse committee said she believes this detailed plan could be the catalyst for securing funding from other levels of government.
Last year, Calgary city council approved the amenity mix and the move to a design stage on the estimated $380 million project. They also approved a change to a modular-style building that city administration said would better accommodate the different sports and the free-flow of patrons’ movement.
The City of Calgary has set aside $109 million thus far for the project but has yet to see a cash commitment from other levels of government towards the sports facility.
Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian, who chairs the Multisport Fieldhouse Committee, said having a master-planned area should help nail down project funding.
“In my view, we wouldn’t be able to secure further funding if we don’t continue to do the necessary refinement of what this proposal is, and what it’s going to look like and why governments of other levels should support it,” Mian said.
The RFP asks for a team to develop a “concise master plan that will guide the transformation of Foothills Athletic Park.”
“The master plan will provide direction for the overall redevelopment of the athletic park and help guide public investment and programming for the area for the duration of the build-out of the site; also, the master plan will further support the development of the Foothills Multisport Fieldhouse,” the posting read.
“The master plan should be concise, innovative, and visionary, with the end user in mind, making it a useful tool for short-term and future planning of the athletic park.”
Incremental but necessary step, said Mian
Mian said this RFP would further zoom in on the north portion of city-owned lands. The previous overarching Foothills Athletic Park redevelopment plans looked at the entire area around the current facilities, including McMahon Stadium and surrounding lands.
A year ago, Calgary city council decided to focus on the development of the fieldhouse as a key anchor for the area’s overall redevelopment. This step takes it even closer to the ground and answers important questions for the project to take shape, Coun. Mian said.
“It’s a zoomed-in version of what’s going to happen exactly on the city-owned sites, and so answering questions about where will parking go, where will the mobility network connections go, where’s the parks and open space,” Mian said.
“Then, in the original concept plan, you can see that there’s housing that’s contemplated in places where there’s currently an aquatic center and an arena. So, what does that journey look like? How does this dovetail in with some of the broader housing work that is going on with the city?”
Mian said it’s important to build a bridge between the original concept plan for the area and a point where the project could begin a phased delivery. While the opening of an RFP may seem incremental, it’s critical to move things closer to reality, she said.
“It’s just a necessary step in the process of ensuring that we deliver something that is not just a building that meets a recreation need but is a destination that serves the entire community,” Coun. Mian said.
Mian said that when she first came into her role on council and took an interest in the fieldhouse work, it was essentially a 400-metre track with an indoor FIFA field in the middle. She said in two years they’ve moved the proverbial ball down the field to get a building that meets the needs of thousands of Calgarians.
“It’s a miraculous vision – and visions are great, but there has to be some tangible technical review of things to ensure that we can actually get to that vision,” she said.
“So we have a North Star and I do see this work as progressing us towards that destination.”
