A rendering of what the Prince Albert Events Centre would look like if it is built. (P.A. Council agenda)

By Susan McNeil

P.A. Events Centre

P.A. council OKs detailed plans for Event Centre

Mar 26, 2024 | 6:56 AM

In a 6-3 vote, the City of Prince Albert will move forward and complete the detailed design of the 4,500 seat event centre that would also house the Prince Albert Raiders.

The motion means the project design will be 99 per cent complete and council also decided to have staff shortlist general contractors to oversee the work.

READ MORE: Council discussed the concept in 2021.

“What happened tonight is we continue to get the plans ready because one thing that we have to do is that…when we do get our funding model, we have to be ready to go because we erred last time with that and we weren’t ready and inflation caught up to us,” said Mayor Greg Dionne, following the Monday evening meeting.

As soon as the federal government announces the next infrastructure program – which Dionne said was expected weeks ago – the project will be submitted.

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While the building would host also the Raiders, the plan is for it host multiple large events. (P.A. council agenda package)

Pre-qualifying tenders will give the city a much more accurate sense of the project if it goes ahead within the next while.

Dionne admitted that the budget would be off if getting a grant was still several years away.

Council also passed a motion to borrow $18 million as a bridge loan to cover the money promised by donors for the first phase of city projects in The Yard.

Again, the vote was 6-3 with Councillors Charlene Miller, Terra Lennox-Zepp and Tony Head opposed to the borrowing.

Lennox-Zepp once again drew a retort from Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick after saying there was no plan to pay for the events centre.

“We have no plan for funding the construction of this building,” she said.

Ogrodnick responded that there is a plan – to have it ready for outside grant money and that waiting would cost the city more if inflation added to the total like it did the twin pad arena and aquatic centre now under construction.

“That’s part of what communities do – plan for the future,” he said. “You can’t just ad hoc it all the time.”

Coun. Blake Edwards pointed out that the contract has already been signed and the bill must be paid, so there is no reason to not go ahead with the plans.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com