A famed equestrian facility is looking toward future growth. Spruce Meadows is looking at expanding its facilities and offering more to the public, including professional soccer, a commercial district and a boutique hotel and convention centre. Kristi Beunder, principal with CivicWorks Planning + Design, said Spruce Meadows has always been philanthropic, constructed and funded by the Southern family out of their life savings, but that needs to change. “It can’t continue to be privately funded with the Southern family’s personal money. It needs to diversify somewhat in order to retain its longevity and its sustainability,” said Beunder. She spent the last two years working with Spruce Meadows to identify how it could be expanded to sustain itself into the future. Soccer became a big focus, with the current Meadows on the Green Ring being used for the expansion Canadian Premier League’s Cavalry FC during its initial stages, and eventually making the All Canada Ring a larger soccer stadium, she said. “At its very heart is the horse, and it will always remain that way,” said Beunder. “But in order to keep the facility operating in the long-term and generate different sources of revenue to help pay the bills at that facility, other sports and activities are being introduced.” In addition to soccer, the Southern family is investing in a regional fieldhouse with their private money, which would benefit the wider community. Because Spruce Meadows is now connected to the City of Calgary via pipeline, it can consider uses that weren’t possible before, she said, like a commercial area at the entry that could include a coffee shop, a restaurant, and a Spruce Meadows gift shop. There could also be a new administration building and a boutique hotel and conference centre down the road, she said. “Presently Spruce Meadows is losing sort of large trade shows because they don’t have a conference centre that can rig certain materials or speakers or stages, what have you,” said Beunder. “They’re hoping to do that in the very long term.” In fact, the area structure plan focuses on long-range planning and looks about 30 years out, with development happening in stages over time, she said. It’s not all commercial, either. A lot of the plan still centres around Spruce Meadows’ agricultural roots, she said. “We have a location for a veterinary facility, and there will be an expanded corn maze,” said Beunder. “We still have the tree farm and wetland conservation, and we’ve also introduced a farmer’s market there as an idea to provide some diversity and interested around the things they do offer.” She said the proposed plan still has to be submitted to the MD of Foothills and circulated to the City of Calgary, which CivicWorks intends to do in mid-December. A public hearing on the area structure plan will take place in the spring, she said. Once the plan has been adopted, Spruce Meadows will have some direction as to what is happening with the facility’s future, she said. But there still has to be some wiggle room. “It also has to be flexible in its implementation,” said Beunder. “Some of these things may never be implemented but some of them definitely will, we just need to have the utmost transparency in the ideas we’re generating and the things we want to accomplish.” An open house to share the plan with the public on Nov. 22 was well-attended and a lot of positive feedback was heard, she said. One of the attendees was Ronni Candelora, a Calgary resident for 25 years. Living on nearby 24 Street SW, she came to the open house for two reasons – a love for Spruce Meadows and curiosity over how traffic would be managed. “I really wanted to see what was going to happen to Spruce Meadows with regards to the roads coming in and out, and if it was going to be able to sustain the traffic,” said Candelora. Her main concern was about the changes being made with Stoney Trail construction and the volume of traffic that will be coming off Calgary’s 37 Street SW onto the ring road and how 24 Street would be affected. The plans for secondary roads entering into Spruce Meadows assuaged her concerns. As far as the development plans, Candelora said she likes how the future of Spruce Meadows looks. “I think it’s going to be beautiful – it’s already beautiful,” said Candelora. She enjoys bringing her grandchildren to the facility during the winter for ice skating and throughout the year to feed the horses in the barns, she said. It’s important to see Spruce Meadows planning for the future, she said. “It looks very family-friendly and welcoming to all people,” said Candelora. MD of Foothills resident Keith Kendal, who has lived across the street from Spruce Meadows on 198 Avenue for 30 years, said the facility is a great neighbour. He had no concerns after looking through the proposed area structure plan renderings at the open house. Kendal said the development of soccer stadiums, a fieldhouse and a commercial area are what Calgary and the surrounding MD need. “I think it’s magnificent, I’m very impressed,” said Kendal. “I have no worries- when they make this development you know it’s not going to be done shoddily, it’s going to be perfect. “It will be the Spruce Meadows way. I can’t say more than that.” For more information, visit the “latest news” section on the Spruce Meadows website at www.sprucemeadows.com. [yop_poll id="26"]
