(pictured: Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio)
The stage is set for a dramatic council meeting Tuesday night.
Councillors will have to decide whether to expropriate properties in the lower townsite in order to build a downtown arena in 2016.
The businesses include the Wolff-Taitinger law firm, the Total office, the A&W, and the Nomad Inn parking lot.
The redevelopment’s executive director Ron Taylor says there’s no turning back.
“Council does need to make a decision,” he said. “Basically, [it] has a period of 30 days after the report from the inquiry officer, and they have to either affirm that the expropriation goes ahead, or abandon it.”
A provincial inquiry officer said some of the expropriations weren’t fair, sound, or reasonably necessary, but council can still expropriate if it gives written reasons to the officer.
Opposition has gathered against the project, with many insisting a downtown location is ripe for traffic gridlock and parking unavailability, which would lead to low usage.
But Taylor says it’s the right place for a new rink.
“This project is proven,” he said emphatically. “Arenas have been used as catalysts for revitalization in cities right across this country, and very successfully.”
The city enlisted world-renowned advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to study the impact that the project would have, in coming to that conclusion.
Taylor says the best results for cities with new arenas have come from downtown locations.
“There are virtually no arenas now being put in the suburbs,” he insisted. “Ottawa did 20 years ago [with Scotiabank Place] and regrets it to this day.”
He says events like concerts and sports at the arena would also give camp workers a reason to bus into town and spend money locally.
Despite the volume of those in opposition, Taylor says a sizable portion of the business community is behind the project.
“We’re hearing from businesses that are in the downtown now who are very interested in coming out to support this because they see that this is an important catalyst to the revitalization of downtown.”
“We’re also hearing from companies that have been looking to develop here – you’ll see several of those on the list of presenters [to council],” Taylor added.
He says four companies have reiterated that they’re interested in building and operating the arena if the land is secured, contradicting a common accusation that there’s no guarantee of developer interest if the project is green-lit.
The city has already purchased and demolished some properties in the proposed location, including the Oil Sands Hotel and the former Fort Theatre.
But it doesn’t yet plan on spending any tax money for the actual construction of the rink; only the acquisition of the land that a private developer would build it on.
April 5, 2013
