Historic sports fields cast a long shadow over the proposed site
Two and a half hectares in the heart of Cornwall, Ont., are being pitched as the site of what local politicians agree is much-needed affordable housing, but the land the city has in mind is not a grand slam.
The Cornwall Athletic Grounds have been a place for people to gather and play sports for more than a hundred years, but the site’s best days are long gone.
The southeast corner of 4th Street E and Marlborough Street used to be full of small-scale sports, but now it’s just a football field with natural grass that people like to use.
On the other side, there is a concrete slab where a tennis court and arena used to be.
The City of Cornwall says that the total area of the site could fit up to 100 housing units. Since people have been living in tents along the water recently, housing advocates are eager to get shovels in the ground.
But the city’s plan, which could involve moving the football field to a sportsplex on the other side of town, is causing people to worry about taking away valuable green space, making sure everyone has the same access to sports, and keeping a link to the past.
“There is no question that the city needs housing,” local baseball organizer Kyle Bergeron told council members at one of three meetings (including a town hall) this year where the plan was discussed.
“It’s not a good way to do it to tear down historic buildings and destroy our city’s history.”
“It’s a shame to let all that history go.
The grounds have been a local gathering place for recreation since before the 20th century, when Cornwall, 115 km southeast of Ottawa, was not even a city.
“Our grounds were the first in the area to have electric lighting, which made it a lot easier to play at night,” said Don Smith, who is in charge of the Cornwall Community Museum.
Next came ice and field hockey, tennis, softball, baseball, and rugby. Over the years, the site also served as a place for people to get together.
It’s where, for example, people crowded into the grandstand (which is no longer there) to celebrate King George VI’s coronation in 1937. Then a lot of other things happened.
The final arena, which opened in 1961, was named the Bob Turner Memorial Centre after a former Harlem Globetrotter who became the city’s first full-time recreation director but died suddenly at age 35.
In the second half of the 20th century, local hockey players learned to skate by pushing a chair on the arena rink, which was where Turner’s minor hockey leagues were held.
There were tennis matches and baseball games going on outside.
But since the arena was torn down in 2013 and the modern Benson Centre sportsplex was built many blocks away on the west side, only football is played at the grounds now.
Carole Fortier’s house is right next to the Joe St. Denis park and football field, which are named for a well-known Cornwall recreation leader.
“Oh, I’d miss it,” Fortier said about hearing kids play one summer night.
Shane Turcotte, who lives in Cornwall, watched his son practice with a small group from the stands across the street.
Turcotte used to play hockey and lacrosse on those grounds, and he said that it would be a shame to lose all that history.
He also said that the idea for the housing wasn’t a bad one.”I just think that there are other places that could be used.”
WATCH | People in the area want you to look at other places.
‘We’re in a housing crisis
The site is being considered for affordable housing because the land is owned by the city, it is in the middle of town, and it is on a bus route.
“It is inside the borders of an old city. If that’s not a place where we should build new housing, I don’t know what is,” Alex Gatien, a planner who doesn’t work for the City of Cornwall, said at a long town hall meeting in June.
The current field is “a terrible park,” Gatien said. “I understand how important football fields are, but they only serve one group for a small part of the year.”
Detail plans for the houses aren’t ready yet because the city council needs to say that the land is empty before planning can start in earnest.
Gatien said, “There aren’t enough places to live.” “There are people who are living in tents.”
The 50 to 100 units that are being planned would only be a small part of the 356 homes that the city says are needed by 2031.
WATCH | Planner says only one group uses the field.
“Don’t be jealous of anyone at this table.
The reasons for not putting the project on the grounds or moving the field have nothing to do with sports.
Local historians think the Bob Turner site was meant to be a memorial to people who served in the Second World War, but a city councillor who grew up in the area said he didn’t know that.
“We always called it the Athletic Grounds,” said Councilman Claude McIntosh, who wrote a book about the history of the city.”It was never said that they were on sacred ground.”
Some people are worried about losing a big piece of green space in the middle of the city, even though the city’s plan is to keep part of the land as a park. City council members would decide on the exact size of the park and the housing, which would be called Bob Turner Court.
“I see the need for housing because I deal with it,” said Terry Muir, a local volunteer who has asked for a youth drop-in center on the grounds.
“I also know that once a green space is gone, it is gone for good. So I don’t feel sorry for anyone at this table who has to make this choice.”
Local baseball organizer Kyle Bergeron has said that moving the football field to the Benson Centre, which is near one of the city’s “richest neighborhoods,” would make sports less available to kids from the east end who don’t have a lot of money.
McIntosh said, “I didn’t know I lived in a wealthy area.”
Bergeron said that moving the field after losing the Bob Turner arena (and the Si Miller Arena, another east-end facility that was torn down) will have an effect, no matter what the population is like.
He said, “Many people stopped playing hockey because the arenas were moved from one part of town to another.”
Bergeron also said that he was one of them.
Coun. Elaine MacDonald said that the Benson Centre is better than the old arenas it replaced and that it didn’t leave a gap in sports facilities. She said that the grounds that are being considered for housing are “empty, vacant land.”
She said, “It’s ready to meet all the needs of the community.”
Fans say the site has promise
Some people say the Cornwall Athletic Grounds have unrealized potential and question the city’s estimate of $3 million to build a multi-sport artificial turf near the Benson Centre.
Richard Marleau, who has lived in Cornwall his whole life, said that the field at the athletic grounds, where the Cornwall Minor Football Club plays, is “by far the best natural turf field in eastern Ontario.”
“Council could easily put up a $3-million football field where it is now. Bergeron said, “It doesn’t need to go somewhere new.”
It’s a little like juggling. Keep a field that has been around for a long time and has a history, or say we’re going to start over?Claude McIntosh, Cornwall County Councilor
Gary Gale, who lives in the area, has suggested putting pickleball courts on the slab.
“There are many different points of view in the community,” McIntosh said, and this makes it hard for the council to make decisions.
“Should we keep a field that has been there for a long time and has history, or should we say we’re going to start over and build more homes and a park, and then move on?”
Since 2009, when the football club asked for improvements to the field, the city has been thinking about moving the football field.
A city report from earlier this year says, “The condition of the field continues to be a problem.”
“Staff have been hesitant to invest in the field’s capital recreation infrastructure, like new overhead lighting, because they don’t know how the land will be used in the future.”
We have no idea what is under that slab.– Todd Bennett, Cornwall County Councillor
The city hasn’t compared the cost of a new Benson Centre field to the cost of reinvesting in the current one, but James Fawthrop, Cornwall’s manager of recreation and facilities, says that putting amenities in one place instead of spreading them out leads to “efficiencies of scale.”
Also, the city hasn’t looked into whether any cleanup work needs to be done at the Bob Turner arena site, which is something that more than one council member has raised as a concern.
“We don’t know what’s under that slab,” said Coun. Todd Bennett.
The president of the football club, Kirby Camplin, is proud of all the time he’s spent keeping the field in good shape.
“I’m probably there six days a week when it’s not snowing,” he said.
But Camplin said he is ready for the field to move to a new, better place.
The lights are probably 20 years past their “best before” date, the parking lot needs to be fixed up, kids already play at the Benson Center in the winter, and Camplin said, “I think people will travel everywhere by car now.”
“As a taxpayer, I just don’t think we should spend a few million dollars to improve the Joe St. Denis field for football. He said, “That’s not fair to the rest of the sports world.”
On the other hand, he said, “I don’t think our community as a whole has done a good job of keeping our history alive in the past.”
Next step
Ian Bowering, a local historian, passed out a petition before the town hall meeting in June. He now says that 500 people have signed it. It asked the city to think about other places, such as “derelict” or “undeveloped” land.
“There’s lots of extra space in town,” he said in front of city hall.
Later, when city staff asked council members to say that the land was empty, they put the decision off until later.
“I’m not sure we’re listening to the public,” said Coun. Maurice Dupelle.
Coun. Sarah Good said that “a full review of all the possible locations” should be done.
“It would be very bad if we just ignored all of the opposition and went ahead and approved this anyway,” she said.
Coun. MacDonald was one of the people who agreed to wait before making a decision. But she also said she was frustrated that the housing proposal keeps getting “put on the back burner” while “strictly the sports angle” has been talked about.
She said, “Surely we don’t just have to worry about the games kids could play there.” “We also have to worry about making sure they have beds to sleep in.”
Guy Quenneville is a reporter in Ottawa. He grew up at the Bob Turner arena, where he played hockey (badly) as a kid. Cornwall story ideas? [email protected] is the address to use.
