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Trade show garners huge feedback on SEC

PHOTO: A concept drawing of the main entrance of the proposed downtown Sports and Entertainment Centre. PROVIDED.

(PHOTO: A concept drawing of the main entrance of the proposed downtown Sports and Entertainment Centre. PROVIDED)

A total of 709 people stopped and had meaningful discussions with RMWB staff about the downtown Sports and Entertainment Centre at the Fall Show and Market at MacDonald Island held over the weekend.

The RMWB had set up a booth to engage with residents on the topic and take their feedback which will be compiled by a third party as part of a larger report on public engagement and taken to members of municipal council for their consideration.

The final say on whether to build the 6,200 seat arena lies with Mayor Melissa Blake and Regional Council.

The engagement at the Fall Show and Market was significantly higher than at the six public engagement sessions. Over the span of the sessions only 47 people turned out to speak to administration about the project.

“The trade show was a very valuable opportunity to dialogue with residents and share information,” said Lynley Kotyk with the RMWB.

Kotyk said most of the conversations were lengthy and engaged, primarily because this is a topic that residents feel strongly about.

“People have a variety of questions around the project and wanting more information and wanting to provide comments, so, we had a comment board there and we invited residents to write down their thoughts,” she said.

Those thoughts have been recorded word for word and will be included in the third party report.

Ted Zlotnik, the director of supply chain management at the RMWB, said there is some confusion surrounding the financing of the project despite the fact the RMWB is making an effort to be more transparent about that.

“What people don’t understand is the fact that the 10 million, or the 14.5 million including everything, is fully inclusive of everything. So, it includes construction it includes maintenance, it includes improvement over the life of the building it includes all the funding and debt, all the financing associated with the project,” said Zlotnik.

He said the RMWB will consider posting a break-down online of the municipality’s annual commitment of $10.15 M, $14.5M per year if the parkade is built, to help eliminate some of the confusion.

Zlotnik is hopeful, too, that people will stop comparing the financing of this arena, which includes all of the costs mentioned above, to other arenas which often only post the capital costs of the project online.

He said you can’t make that comparison because the maintenance and improvement costs aren’t calculated in those other arenas’ capital costs. He agreed it was like comparing apples to oranges.

Zlotnik did say that while he cannot speak for how the Edmonton arena is funded, a common comparison being made on social media, the Fort McMurray arena would be funded with public money for all of those costs. He said he wants people to stop making those comparisons and look only at the facts of this arena so that they can make and informed decision about whether to build it or not.

The arena will hold 6,200 permanent seats with 1,200 temporary seats in a sunken bowl design. The parkade option would include 508 parking spaces with ground floor retail. You can learn more about the project online and by reading previous stories.

In total the RMWB is spending $45,000 on this public engagement campaign, the majority of which is focused on advertizing and on the online survey which is available until October 13.

“We encourage those who haven’t already completed the survey to have a look at the information and have their say,” said Kotyk.

The ultimate goal is to have at least 3,000 resident respond to the online survey but Kotyk believes the engagement will surpass that.

“Ultimately council has the final say on whether the SEC moves forward or not and they’re going to really look at the results of the public engagement to help them form their decision and make their decision on whether we should move forward or not,” said Zlotnik.

“So, the public engagement is probably one of the key pieces of information that they will need to make an informed decision on whether we move forward or not,” he said.

The survey will remain available until October 13 online.

You can also write to your councillor about the issue but that letter will not be taken into account in the formal report to council.