The work of Regina’s Catalyst Committee is finished.
Regina’s city council passed all of the group’s recommendations to explore aligning five proposed recreation and cultural-based facility proposals to maximize economic and community benefits.
The committee reccomendated four projects, with council voting to approve three after hearing from close to 50 delegates.
- A connected non-vehicular trail system that joins the various districts in the downtown core
- A new Central Library within the downtown core with preference given to the existing location.
- A Multi-Purpose Event Centre within the downtown core with a specific location to be determined after re-evaluating possible locations based on the decision-making matrix.
The trail system passed unanimously, the library passed in a 10-1 vote, and the event centre passed by a vote of 8-3.
The other recommendation, constructing a new aquatic centre, was passed earlier this month so the City could apply for federal funding before the mid-March deadline.
Council delayed voting on the catalyst committee recommendations as they wanted to hear feedback from the community, including polling on the location of the new area downtown while also conducting an online survey.
The City conducted the surveys from March 9 to 19, with the scientific survey having a margin of error of +/- 3.09 per cent 19 times out of 20.
In the first survey, 64.4 per cent believe that the City should build a new area. However, only 34.6 per cent of that number believe it should be built somewhere other than downtown.
The survey also found that only 40.8 per cent believe the area should be a priority of council, with 46.5 thinking it shouldn’t be a priority.
The online survey saw 53.1 per cent believe the City doesn’t need a new area at all, with only 21 per cent believing that the area should be built and located downtown.
68.5 per cent believe that council shouldn’t be considering the new area as a priority, with just 26 believing it should be.
With the recommendations now passed, the City can start figuring out how to secure funding and prepare project designs.
Council will still have to vote on the project’s budgets, locations, and designs.
