The executive committee's recommendation that Edmonton City Council should extend the downtown community revitalization levy for 10 years beyond its current 2034 expiry date may not yield decent returns on investments, the co-hosts of Episode 298 of Speaking Municipally said.
The CRLs are tools for municipalities to rejuvenate underdeveloped areas by allowing public infrastructure investments to attract private investments that can repay the public investment. Edmonton has used the downtown CRL to help build the 103A Avenue Pedway (set for completion in 2026) and invest in Warehouse Park (construction should be done this year), among other things.
But council will soon consider whether the CRL should be extended, along with a proposal for the levy to help subsidize the OEG's hoped-for new indoor and outdoor Fan Park, directly east of Rogers Place, as well as Village at ICE District, a housing, retail, and hospitality development from the company.
"This event park, like the arena itself, would be owned by the City of Edmonton. It's projected to cost $250 million, which is just an insane amount to me," co-host Mack Male said. "A third of its time would be reserved for public use. Let me just underline that again — another publicly owned and mostly publicly funded building available for the public for only a third of its lifetime."
The park would tentatively be paid for using a mix of the CRL, provincial grants, and contributions from the OEG, owned by Daryl Katz. While the city will own it, and help pay for it, the park will not be available for public use all of the time.
The province outlined its contribution to the project in its latest budget, which includes Edmonton's long-asked-for money to demolish Northlands Coliseum, as well as to provide servicing to Village at ICE District.
Co-host Troy Pavlek said he was reminded of Edmonton's decision to build the 100 Street funicular, when then-mayor Don Iveson said he felt pushed into the city contributing to the $24-million project because he didn't want to leave funds from the provincial and federal governments on the table.
"While this does get us funding from other orders of government, the provincial funding is still coming from our tax dollars, and is still — depending on your perspective — a wealth transfer to a billionaire," Pavlek said.
The March 7 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast also covered the renaming of the Edmonton Prospects to the Energy City Cactus Rats, a potential new name for a field at Commonwealth Stadium, resignations at Edmonton Public Schools, and more. Speaking Municipally comes out on Fridays. Listening and subscription options are all right here.