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Regina residents on Monday were given their first opportunity to offer feedback on five projects aimed at revitalizing the city.
The Catalyst Committee opened the doors of Mosaic Stadium’s AGT Lounge, where residents could give their input on the upcoming projects. The first facility on the agenda is a new arena.
“It went really well. I was surprised at how well it went,” said Coun. Bob Hawkins, a co-chair of the Catalyst Committee.
Tim Reid, co-chair of the Catalyst Committee and the president and CEO of Regina Exhibition Association Limited, said he was happy with the turnout for the event.
“I thought the number of people here was fantastic,” said Reid. “When you run out of coffee three times for more people than you intended on being here, that’s a sign of a great engagement session.”
The 50 people in attendance had the opportunity to raise concerns, questions and ideas for the Multi-Purpose Event Centre.
The building, which is being proposed to replace the Brandt Centre, is expected to cost $120 million. It will be paid for by multiple levels of government — 30 per cent each from the municipal, provincial and federal governments — and 10 per cent through a user-pay model.
Concerns were raised about where the arena is to be placed. Kelly Miller came with concerns about a new facility being built downtown.
“I live close enough to (Mosaic Stadium) that I can hear the games from my home, or the concerts from my home. It’s going to be even harder downtown,” said Miller.
Miller is concerned about the noise with all the seniors apartments downtown. Furthermore, if the facility is built downtown, Miller said there could be concerns over lack of parking.
Reid justified the decision for the Multi-Purpose Event Centre being built downtown because it will build “financial viability, quality of life and commercial impact.”
“The fundamental driver for the recommendation downtown was the ability for us to impact our overall downtown experience, not only as a tax base that generates the highest lift (but) it also creates the most eyes on street and the most significant impact to creating a better city,” said Reid.
Reid also said there are five locations for where the new Multi-Purpose Event Centre could be located, but those have not been revealed yet.
“If the downtown is vibrant, the whole city will be vibrant,” said Hawkins, who was also in favour of the event centre being located downtown.
Hawkins added it’s essential for the city to begin using 40 acres of land downtown that’s unused.
Conversations were held surrounding the growing homeless population in Regina. Members of the public were concerned that there is not enough money going into helping social issues.
Jim Elliott, a member of the public attending the event, said tackling prevalent social issues will also benefit the city.
“I think there are other big problems in the city (to deal with) that will help us rejuvenate the city, more than just simply building another building,” said Elliott.
Hawkins explained homelessness was a concern of city council and it’s working hard to help, but encouraged people to see the benefits of the proposed buildings.
“These projects will have a ripple effect that will help create neighbourhoods (and) create an investment in housing,” said Hawkins. “I think there was an attempt there to see the social issues that were raised, that the recreation cultural issues that were discussed are connected, and that’s something we are going to go away and think about hard.
“We have to find a middle way to advance both set of ideas. We are going to do it and it’s not going to be easy but that’s our job.”
Consultations will continue twice a day until Thursday with each session dedicated to a different project.
The focus Tuesday is an aquatics centre, Wednesday’s consultation is on a multi-purpose baseball and soccer stadium, and Thursday’s conversation will be about the refurbishment/replacement of the downtown library.
An online survey is available on the city’s website, as are PowerPoint presentations of each of the projects. There also is an online tool to submit questions to the committee.