A 50 hectare piece of property is expected to be the location of some of the Commonwealth Games Infrastructure

By Pepper Parr

January 26th, 2023

BURLINGTON, ON

When City Council agreed earlier this week to affix the Mayors signature to a letter to the Premier of the province supporting the idea of having the 2030 Commonwealth Games take place in the Burlington Hamilton area, as well as in eight other municipalities, few appreciated what events were being proposed for inclusion in the Games or where those events will be hosted. However, this information has been publically disclosed representing over a year of work by a committee of international experts and the solicitation of expressions of interest from public and private sector stakeholders.

As it pertains to Burlington, Lou Frapporti, Bid Chair, has been meeting with all the stakeholders including council and city staff and the Premier of Ontario and former Sport and Tourism Minister MacLeod over a period of months in relation to the venues available to the City of Burlington. They include gymnastics, ESports (Digital Gaming) and the athletes village.

Those discussions have proceeded on the basis of the private sector assuming the cost and risk of delivering these venues as needed in the community in any event and then being subsequently used by the Games’ bid should it come to Ontario. Such private sector investment has been put forward as an innovation in the Games delivery model aimed at ameliorating demands for taxpayer funding. Further benefits might include transitioning some portion of the athletes village to affordable housing.

These venues would be located on a 50 hectare piece of land at 1200 King Road that stretches west to the Aldershot GO station with highway 403 on the north side and the GO tracks on the south side owned by developer Alinea.

A drone photo that shows the site from King Road, looking west towards the Aldershot GO station. No buildings, just a clean slate of potential.

Communities clustered around GTA West that will be taking part in the Games

A number of major benefits will be an extension of the South Service road through the property proving an additional access to the Aldershot Go Station.

The province and federal government are on the eve of a decision around supporting the Games bid with a decision expected by the UK Commonwealth Games Federation on where they will be held in November; Burlington-Hamilton is seen as both the leading choice and the favourite given that the original Games took place in Hamilton in 1930 when they were called the British Empire Games

The Games Federation has some hard and fast rules: there must be Track and Field events and there must be Aquatics – after that it is up to the hosting community to determine what will take place.

The Federation looks for hosts that include other communities. The BID committee has been meeting with eight municipalities and two Indigenous organizations.

The City of Burlington decided on Tuesday, on a unanimous vote to support the Games. This decision was preceded by the Burlington Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement of the opportunity.