THUNDER BAY – The eyesore left behind when the Sports Dome collapsed in November 2016 could be a step closer to the clean-up stage.
Al Law, president of the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition’s board of directors, on Thursday said the organization several months ago terminated the lease agreement with the now collapsed facility’s ownership and have been given the legal OK to begin removal of the mess, which has largely been left unattended since the bubble came down.
Law said unpaid rent was the basis to end the agreement with the Sportsdome Limited Partnership, which sets the stage for the CLE to issue a request for proposal to conduct the clean-up once the city orders them to do so.
“We want the site cleaned up, so we had to go through legal channels and go after the insurance companies, because if there’s monies that are going to be paid, we’d like that money directed toward the clean-up,” Law said.
Until this week, the CLE and its board weren’t legally allowed to touch the site, which last fall saw a portion of its artificial turf torn out to be used at a new indoor soccer facility at Confederation College.
Much of the bubble itself has also been carted away, but the infrastructure for the remainder of the Sports Dome still remains in place, fenced off from the general public.
This hasn’t stopped seagulls, pigeons and rodents from befouling what was left behind, and Law said they believe people may have been inside the fence at various times since the collapse.
“We want the city to put pressure on us, give us a letter and then we’ll move forward,” Law said, adding the board has no idea what the final cost to remediate the site will be.
“There’s major steel (there). You can see it for yourself, and how much is that going to take to clean up. There’s quite a mess in there.”
Robert Zanette, representing the Sportsdome Limited Partnership, in a letter said they initially told the CLE, in early 2017, that they intended to rebuild the facility.
“During 2017 the Sportsdome made four different offers to Soccer Northwest to rebuild for soccer and be ready for their 2017 indoor season,” Zanette said.
“Soccer Northwest declined all four offers citing that the Chapples facility had somehow been promised to them.”
At that point, without an anchor tenant, Zanette said the ownership group looked at other options, which included new uses for the site, hoping to partner with Thunder Bay + Area Food Strategy, which was in the middle of conducting its Thunder Bay and Area Food and Agriculture Market Study.
“The Sportsdome undertook an extensive investigation and then proposed logically to re-build a regional agricultural food hub given Soccer Northwest would not support rebuilding indoor soccer fields,” Zanette said.
“The CLE refused.”
A request for arbitration and mediation was also refused.
“The Sportsdome was left with no choice but to request a judge to compel the CLE to deal fairly with its tenant,” Zanette said. “The CLE then abruptly cancelled the lease improperly in our view.”
He added the lease monies was placed in a trust and their insurance was compliant, but because it’s before the courts, he preferred not to comment further.
Law said there’s no timetable to have the clean-up work completed, adding the board is hopeful a new facility can be built on the site, one that can host both soccer and trade shows.
It won’t be another dome.
“It’s the perfect spot for a soccer complex,” he said, acknowledging the proposed Chapples facility could make it a tough sell.
Follow Leith Dunick on Twitter: @LeithDunick
