New Westminster city councillors voted unanimously to reject a proposal from the Vancouver Whitecaps to convert a local baseball stadium into the new home of the football club's farm team.
Council had been considering a plan from Whitecaps FC to retrofit the Queen's Park Stadium to be used by the club's minor soccer team, but many from the local baseball community rallied to oppose being forced out of a beloved ballpark.
- MORE | Whitecaps takeover of Queen's Park fought by New West baseball players
New Westminster councillorJonathon X. Cote says what killed the proposal Monday night was the fact that the capital investment the city would have had to incur was just too high.
"The total cost of the entire proposal came up to $11.4 million and ultimately the vast majority of that would not have been recovered by any rent by the Whitecaps," he said. "The City of New Westminster was not prepared to put in that type of money to attract the Whitecaps."
Cote says he knows it is disappointing for many residents who were excited about the possibility of a Whitecaps farm team playing in the city, but councillors felt the financial impacts would have been too difficult.
"There would have been some benefits to the Whitecaps coming, certainly it would have given some really good use to an old stadium... there would have been economic spinoff with businesses in New Westminster, and certainly there's a lot of residents in New Westminster who were very excited about the possibility having the Whitecaps' farm team playing in New Westminster," Cote said.
"But ultimately, when it came down to it, the financial numbers had to work, and they just didn't," he said.
Google Maps: Queen's Park