Halifax Council to discuss new sports stadium at Shannon Park site

Halifax Regional Council will be discussing a 20,000 seat stadium to be built at Shannon Park at their council meeting next Tuesday.

"If you're looking at stadiums being built in Canada these days, they're larger," Mayor Mike Savage said Friday. "They don't have to be 30,000, but probably 20,000 and up."

The Canada Lands Company acquired 40 acres of the Shannon Parklast year.

The site scored well in an HRM comparison with other potential stadium locations in Halifax.

But that was for a stadium with 10,000 to14,000 seats.

A bigger stadium could entice aCanadian Football Leagueor Major League Soccerfranchise to set up on the east coast.

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"It's going to be a staged development.Shannon Park is a great opportunity for our whole community,"said Savage.

"So what we're saying in this report is, let's go ahead and get started and give Canada Lands some direction on a good chunk of the land."

A new stadium would be the cornerstone in turning the derelictmilitary housing site into something that could help transform the north end of Dartmouth.

A housing project is also being considered on the site and a new ferry linking the site to downtown Halifax is also likely to be factored in.

'Right now, there's nothing really there'

Located next to the MacKayBridge and with easy access to highways, the site has great potential.

"It's a great piece of property and it's in the heart of where people are travelling,"said Wendy Driscoll, who works in the area.

"Right now, there's just really nothing there, so someone has to come up with a better idea of what we see every day when we drive across the bridge."

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Savage says it makes sense to get started on developing the site, even if the stadium plan doesn't pan out.

Part of next week's discussions will centre around the continuing efforts to try and secure financial partners for the proposed stadium, Savage said.