Whitecaps stadium plan prompts calls for transit, pushback from horse racing group

Plans to build a new Vancouver Whitecaps stadium at the PNE fairgrounds is sparking concern from the horseracing groups that use the grounds next door.

The Vancouver Whitecaps’ plans to build a new stadium at the PNE fairgrounds is drawing mixed reaction.

On Friday, the MLS club confirmed it’s been in conversation with the City of Vancouver about the possibility of a new home at the PNE, but few details have been revealed.

On Saturday, Axel Schuster, the club’s CEO and sporting director, said, “We are only working on one plan, one goal, and this is to keep the club in Vancouver and to find a very good setup for the future for this club in Vancouver.”

Currently, the Whitecaps lease the use of B.C. Place, which is owned and operated by the B.C. Pavilion Corporation, a provincial Crown corporation.

In December, the club’s ownership group announced it would be putting the team up for sale.

Schuster said there are groups interested in buying the club, and adding a permanent hub on home soil could make things more attractive.

“To say, if you want to take the club from here, and you want to continue to grow this club in this city, we also have this ready-for-you option on the table for a stadium,” he said.

HORSE RACING GROUP OBJECTS

While the announcement has garnered support online, some organizations aren’t as receptive. The team did not clarify where the stadium would be located on the grounds.

David Milburn, the president of the Horsemen’s Benevolent Protective Association of British Columbia, said he learned about the news through the media. The HBPABC represents horse trainers and owners who work at Hastings Racecourse, adjacent to the PNE.

“We’ll do whatever we can not to be displaced,” he said. “There are a lot of people that require the racetrack for their livelihoods.”

Horse racing has taken place at the track since 1889. Milburn said the city has control of the grounds and they are to be used as a park space and for recreation.

“I don’t know if it’s in keeping with the spirit of that trust agreement to put a stadium up and pave what now is an agricultural purpose; racing horses and having them stabled here and replace it with a stadium.”

‘WE’LL LOOK AT EVERYTHING’

At a press conference Monday, Mayor Ken Sim said keeping the team in Vancouver is a priority.

“I think what we need to focus on here, or what we’re going to focus on here, is the fact that the Whitecaps might leave the region, and so, we’ll look at everything,” he said.

TRANSIT CONCERNS

Denis Agar, the executive director of Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders said he hopes the city takes an in-depth look at how it could improve access to transit services in the neighbourhood – especially if the goal is to lure people out of the downtown core.

“The thing with having a big, amazing sports stadium downtown is that you already have so much capacity and trains running every three minutes.” he said. “To move it away from downtown, I think would be creating a lot of new traffic problems.”

To alleviate some of those issues, Agar said it would be ideal to build a Skytrain or some other rapid transit option on Hastings St.

“Maybe this would be the thing that brings it up and in the priority queue,” he said.