With the fate of Lansdowne Park mired in a grey area, one city councillor is suggesting the city clean up the process and start officially negotiating towards an offer that city council can actually vote on.
College Ward Coun. Rick Chiarelli is preparing a motion for the April 22 council meeting that would sole source the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park to the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, allowing the city to negotiate a better deal.
“If we can get a new business model that flows enough revenue from the project to the city so that we can pay to amortize what we have to pay to build a new stadium, it might make sense,” he said. “If not it’s the wrong business model.”
A new stadium at Lansdowne Park could cost the city between $97 million and $125 million.
However, a new city report on the condition of the stadium revealed that it would cost the city at least $3.8 million per year for a decade just to maintain the current level of programming.
Chiarelli suggests a business plan that would allow the city to build a stadium at no cost to the city is worth taking a vote on.
