Update: downtown arena rezoning application
This is the April instalment of my Edmonton Examiner column, from this week’s paper, reproduced here for the record:
The Katz Group proposal for a Downtown arena and related development remains a work in progress, which has contributed to uncertainty both for members of City Council as well as the public.
I can relate my thinking about it based on what I know so far.
Firstly, I’m still not convinced that there’s any crisis with the Coliseum/Rexall Place. I believe it could last another 10-20 years without major renovations.
Secondly, with regard to planning a ‘sports and entertainment district’ downtown, I don’t have any real objection to the general concept. I gather a rezoning application was submitted very recently but I haven’t seen the specifics, and it likely will evolve with input from City planners. Whether I could support the planning permission (in terms of urban design) remains to be seen. There will be at least one public open house as well as a public hearing before council before any planning permission is granted.
Third, and separate entirely from the urban planning questions, are the financing questions: I, for one, am not keen on using the city’s borrowing power to finance any part of the development.
City borrowing power is prudently limited by both city policy and provincial law, and we need all of what’s remaining for the next phases of LRT expansion. I also don’t think it’s appropriate in general for the city to provide financing for-profit enterprise. We partner with not-for-profits all the time, but private enterprise has traditionally fended for itself.
Further, I’m not keen on the city owning any part of a new arena. If there is a new arena development it should survive financially on its own merits. Main reason why is that I really don’t want the city to wind up on the hook for developing a new arena every generation to meet the tenant hockey team’s specifications.
It’s unclear how the public will be formally consulted on the financing question. I am receiving a lot of input on this question and would be happy to hear from readers of this article.
I’ve posted a few notes on my blog about this and you can view the arena items by typing www.doniveson.ca/tag/arena in your browser and feel free to provide comments that way as well.
The Katz Group has launched a website at www.revitalizedowntown.ca with their perspective on the project.
I fervently agree that using public money or even borrowing power to finance a new arena is a mistake. How can we help (besides the obvious)?
please do everything you can to ensure taxpayers money or borrowing capabilities, is not used in any way shape or form, to build a hockey rink. we have more important obligations to the people of this city, which require funding. the LRT. late night transit service. inner city schools. ect.
the city has a history of wasteing public funds (a giant baseball bat comes to mind)…… please don’t let us go down this road again. I do fear that is the direction we are heading.
One of the many unanswered questions about locating the arena downtown is what happens to Rexall Place which as you point out still has a lot of life left.
A related concern is about the future of the Canadian Finals Rodeo should the arena relocate downtown. While not personally a rodeo fan, this week long event brings tens of thousands of rural Albertans to our city. With no ability to house the livestock near a downtown arena the loss of the CFR seems all but certain.
“Firstly, I’m still not convinced that there’s any crisis with the Coliseum/Rexall Place. I believe it could last another 10-20 years without major renovations.
Don, with all due respect, the place is a dump. Poor leg room, frayed seats, no space for services, aging ice plant…
If we can completely revamp the Jubilee after 35 years, and build from scratch a new art gallery after 35 years, surely one can justify an arena replacement after 40 years?
I realize that the mix of public/private funding is different in each of these cases, but to make a stand against supporting an arena — which supports a Canadian cultural heritage, hockey, unmatched by any other facility — seems hypocritical.
Yes, there is a billionaire involved in this project, but that alone doesn’t justify absolute statements against at least some public support for a new facility that will be used by the majority of Edmontonians over time.
Mike