If it were a ball game, the city would have two strikes with a third heading for the plate. Not exactly three strikes, but close.

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment has the city contemplating the dugout after ruling the city’s third safety plan for the multi-use recreation complex on West Street requires more answers. The ministry has given the city until June to come up with them.

The decision has renewed calls for the city to consider an alternative site. Perhaps it’s time to seriously consider such options.

The cost of the Multi-use Recreation Facility has ballooned beyond initial projections to a figure in the neighbourhood of $63 million. If the city sticks with the West Street site, how much more will be needed just to get the shovels in the ground?

The ministry is making it clear that it hasn’t written off the project. While the ministry is demanding clarification or additional information, it has been reported that an average of three risk assessments are submitted to the ministry before a project is approved.

So, the city could sail on and hope that one of its submissions catches wind.

Or, it could cut its losses and take the project elsewhere.

Where would it go? One proposal is to locate the centre on rural land adjacent to where Lakehead University’s Orillia campus will be built. While that proposal has merit, especially considering growth the campus could spur in that area, right now it may be a bit too far removed to meet the community’s needs.

A centre there would need to be fully serviced by public transit. If council seriously considers the site, a full public discussion of servicing should occur.

Could the soon-to-be vacant Huronia Regional Centre grounds be another option? It had been considered a possible site for the university campus. Are there other, undisclosed, locations in the city?

While it’s important the city press on with developing a facility, an important lesson to be learned is the difficulty in renewing brownsfield lands – former industrial sites.

The city has discovered how hard, perhaps even impossible, it is to redevelop such sites largely on its own.

Yet, the province wants cities like Orillia to intensify development – to grow up instead of out. It seems apparent that if dormant industrial lands are to be part of this strategy, the province should be taking the lead by identify risks and significantly helping to cover costs.

The federal government also has a role to play, if only as a funding partner.

At the end of the day, reclaiming industrial lands may be too big a job for a single municipality to handle.