REGINA — Regina’s Executive Committee has moved ahead with terms of reference for the committee that will guide the city’s “catalyst” projects.
At Wednesday’s Executive Committee meeting, councillors were presented with the terms of reference for the city’s newly formed Catalyst Committee that was approved by council in July.
This is the committee that will be dealing with planning the transformative “catalyst” projects such as a potential new 10,000 seat arena, a new baseball stadium and a new aquatic centre, with a view to ensure the projects move ahead in a co-ordinated manner.
Executive Committee voted to approve the Catalyst Committee terms of reference Wednesday, with the next step for this recommendation to go to the full council meeting for approval Aug. 17.
In the terms of reference presented Wednesday, the committee is to include 16 individuals, making up a cross section of community members.
Already appointed to co-chair the committee are Councillor Bob Hawkins and REAL President and CEO Tim Reid. In addition will be 14 more representatives including those representing the downtown BID, the Warehouse BID, Economic Development Regina, the University of Regina, Treaty 4 and Next Generation Leadership, among others.
The plan is for the committee to be active from July 13, 2022 through to March 31, 2023, with meetings conducted once a month, or more frequently at the call of the co-chairs.
At Wednesday's meeting, Hawkins explained what the committee hoped to achieve. On the composition of the committee, he said they tried to include stakeholders critical to the siting of the project.
“The challenge was to keep the list down,” said Hawkins. “We tried hard to leave some out and we couldn’t do it.”
Hawkins said his expectation for the committee is to come with an open mind, and for it to act as a liaison and communication piece with council.
There have been concerns expressed from residents, as pointed out by Councillor Dan LeBlanc, that council approving the committee meant “writing a blank cheque” for these projects.
“I think that’s not so,” LeBlanc said. “What we’re doing here is trying to take a strategic, organized approach to deciding where any potential infrastructure projects might go to get the most bang for our buck.”
One priority for the city is to be ready whenever funding opportunities at the provincial or federal level become available for the city to apply for major projects.
Hawkins noted part of the terms of reference will be to look at financial indicators, “so that when opportunities come to the city — and we don’t get to control the order which opportunities come — we’re able to be shovel ready and ready to step up to the plate and say, ‘yes, we have a plan, the project you’re creating an opportunity for would fit in here, we’re able to move quickly with this new information.’”
He assured council and the public that council will get the final decision, and also assured the public that “we’re not going to be announcing in two months that we’ve got five big multi-million dollar projects that are going to cause their taxes to soar. That’s not what this is about.” Instead, Hawkins emphasized this committee was about long-term planning.
In speaking to reporters following the meeting, Mayor Sandra Masters said she was happy with the progress towards getting the Catalyst Committee up and running.
“They’re on a pretty tight timeline because we’re looking to have that information in prior to the end of the year,” said Masters. “And so, to have the catalyst committee structure, and the format that the co-chairs have come forward with in terms of how to populate the committee, is pretty favourable.”
One of the major projects the Catalyst Committee could consider in the coming months is a potential new public library. A new downtown library to replace the current central library has been mentioned before as a possible “catalyst” project that could be developed.
Discussion of the library was supposed to come up at Wednesday’s Executive Committee meeting. A delegation representing Regina Public Library was scheduled to present on the replacement and development of a new central library, and also bring facts and figures regarding the current facility.
However, other items on the Executive Committee agenda ran late in the day, including an extended discussion on procurement. Executive Committee moved to table discussion of the Public Library to their Sept. 7 meeting.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Masters reiterated the importance of the library to the city.
“I think the library is incredibly important to … the culture in the community of Regina. It serves everybody, young or old, it’s completely inclusive for new Canadians, it’s an absolute resource in terms of learning English as well as connecting into the community. It’s a place for families. The revitalization project I believe has been worked on for 12 years now for the main branch, and we look forward to seeing that come forward.”
