Regina city council votes to pursue $490M in catalyst projects

After conducting a survey and having dozens of delegates share their views on a series of mega-projects, Regina city council has voted to pursue all of them.

"This is an important vote. This will shape the future of our city," said Ward 2 Coun. Bob Hawkins on Thursday. 

"It's easy to find a thousand reasons not to do something, but sometimes you have to be courageous and build into the future and that's what we're doing today."

The votes at Thursday's special council meeting do not mean these mega-projects are guaranteed to be built, or that construction will began right away.

"Council is not making a commitment to spend all the money on all the projects," explained Barry Lacey, executive director of financial strategy and sustainability.

The votes mean the city will now start figuring out how to secure funding for the projects and finalizing the intended designs.

The projects were all recommended by the city's catalyst committee. If built, they will help shape Regina's downtown core for decades.

They include a new arena that would function as a replacement for the Brandt Centre, the modernization of the Regina central library and a non-vehicular trail that would join parts of the city centre where the proposed projects could be built. 

Another recommendation, the construction of an aquatic centre to replace the aging Lawson facility, was passed by council earlier this month so it could submit an application for federal funding ahead of a mid-March deadline. 

Mayor Sandra Masters said the decision to approve the catalyst recommendations serves as a clear signal to other levels of government and private entities as the city looks to secure funding that according to preliminary estimates could total more than $490 million. 

"If the federal government comes to us and says 'we have X number of dollars in this particular funding stream for this type of project,' we know that we've got approval, that we believe these things need to be built and we have a general sense of the area they should be built in," she said. 

One of the most controversial projects to receive sign off on Thursday was the proposed replacement for the Brandt Centre.

Council had delayed voting on the catalyst committee recommendations for a few weeks as it arranged for Forum Research to conduct polling on locating the new arena downtown.

The poll had a sample size of 1,000 people, with 100 responses per city ward, according to a handout provided to councillors. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.09 per cent, 19 times out of 20.