(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Major Development

Council approves land purchase for new aquatic and arena centre

Jun 30, 2020 | 5:57 PM

Prince Albert city council has approved a $6.5 million land deal in a narrow vote that split councillors five against four. The city’s politicians made the decision Monday night after over an hour of sometimes heated debate that at one point saw the Mayor threaten to eject councillors if they couldn’t maintain order.

The City has big plans for the newly purchased 18-acre parcel. Phase one will see the construction of a $60 million recreation complex with two arenas and an aquatic centre. The city announced it had secured partial funding from federal and provincial governments for the recreation complex in September. Phase two will include an entertainment centre hosting a large arena. Other development opportunities, including a convention centre and branch library, are planned for phase three.

“This will put P.A. on the map,” Coun. Blake Edwards told council. “You can’t go to a hockey tournament in Saskatoon and have a large aquatic centre and play hockey right on the same site. Regina? Nope.”

City Manager Jim Toye told paNOW the City should be ready to put construction of the new facility out for tender by June of 2021, with shovels in the ground by September of that year.

He said Prince Albert plans to have the new recreation centre open to the public by fall of 2023.

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Toye said the city is currently in the process of hiring an architect to complete a conceptual design of the facility, which will also include the larger arena slated for phase two. He explained funding options are being explored to potentially include the larger arena in initial construction.

“We’re trying to do the business plan,” Toye said speaking about phase two. “There’s other ways we can raise money, we’re just trying to finalize that detail now. Obviously, there will be a fundraising committee.”

Toye added the City of Prince Albert has been very successful in fundraising for other facilities including the EA Rawlinson Centre and Alfred Jenkins Field House.

The question of location

City administration considered two other sites for the aquatic and arena complex, but ultimately recommended buying the land in the south-east of the city owned by Signature Development Corporation.

Toye said he believed the site was the best option mainly because of the opportunity it presents for further development and tax revenue.

The 18-acres the city has purchased is part of 80-acre parcel, all of which will be developed and serviced for commercial use by Signature Developments Corporation. Toye explained the developer will sell lots in the area and the taxes from the new businesses will help offset the debt the city incurs building the new facility. The city plans to borrow $16 million to pay for its portion of the $60 million project. The federal and provincial governments will cover $44 million.

“The businesses opening in the area are actually paying for that facility,” Toye said. “That means we’re not going to all the other taxpayers in the city to ask them to pay.”

Council divided

The location of the new complex became a point on contention at Monday night’s council meeting with some councillors calling for more time and information before making a final decision to purchase the land.

The city announced it was considering the purchase of the 18-acre parcel on Thursday.

“It’s laughable that we should decide on a location for a $60 million project with four days of public notice and absolutely no public input,” Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp told the meeting. “We do public consultation on much smaller budget items… I don’t know which location the public wants…but we should at least have the respect of our citizens to go and find out.”

Her comments drew angry responses from some of her colleagues.

As the Mayor called for order, Coun. Ogrodnick rose to interject.

“This is not the first time this group has heard of this,” he told the meeting. “The speaker is making it sound like this is all of the sudden sprung on us, we have known about this for quite some time.”

Lennox-Zepp shot back that she was talking about the public, not council, and much of the resulting argument could not be heard by media in the lobby because not all councillors had their mics on.

“I am prepared to eject members of council,” the Mayor said after banging his gavel. “Let’s keep it orderly, let’s just take a minute, take a deep breath and then we’ll continue on with the discussion.”

Ultimately council voted 5-4 to purchase the land. The four councillors who voted against the purchase were: Charlene Miller, Terra Lennox-Zepp, Evert Botha and Dennis Nowoselsky. Those in favour were: Don Cody, Dennis Ogrodnick, Blake Edwards, Ted Zurakowski and Mayor Greg Dionne.

“We need this project,” Cody told council as he closed the debate. “This project’s going to give us thousands of jobs during the construction period and it will probably add 200 to 300 jobs throughout, so I don’t know why we are quibbling about $6 million.”

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom