About 1,000 people, according to the City of Regina, participated in this week’s public consultations for the catalyst committee, which were completed on Thursday.
Eight public information sessions were spread out from Monday to Thursday as residents were able to get a closer look at five large-scale recreation and culture facility projects proposed for the city.
These initiatives include the renovation of the city’s main library, the construction of an indoor aquatic centre, a new arena to take the place of the Brandt Centre, a new synthetic soccer field outside, and a new baseball stadium outside.
“I think this has been (a) wide open process and has been transparent as any public process that I know of, so I am pleased by that,” said committee co-chair and city councillor Bob Hawkins on Thursday following their final public session.
Hawkins stated that even though this stage of public engagement is over, the catalyst committee will continue to gather data from a variety of sources, including the general public, specialists, and prior research.
“We will consider suggestions from engineers, designers, and architects. There are some restrictions on viability and financial factors. Before being presented to the city council, the catalytic committee will carefully analyze all of this, Hawkins continued.
“It will be a big job to collect it and absorb it. We’ll have internal discussions, fill up the blanks as needed, and prepare council recommendations.
This includes an online survey which residents have until Nov. 10 to share their thoughts on the proposed projects.
The community poll has received more than 2,200 responses, according to the City of Regina.
On the website of the catalyst committee, project presentations and videos of each project’s initial meeting are accessible.
Tim Reid, co-chair of the group and president and chief executive officer of the Regina Exhibition Association Limited, said, “I think this was a fantastic chance to bring our dialogues together and allow it to happen in a wider city planning conversation.”
The committee claims they do not have a lot of time to address the big problems of funding, location, and project sequencing.
Due to a deadline in mid-March for federal cash that could be used for the aquatic facility, there is a short schedule.
“I left these talks with the impression that the aquatic centre has an urgent need, and we need to decide rather quickly.
Based on that choice, we need to find a home for four additional civic infrastructure projects,” said Reid.
The catalytic committee will meet on Tuesday to discuss its next steps.
By the end of the year, city council is expected to receive a report from the catalytic committee.
The information meetings for the Regina catalytic committee are over, but the online survey is still open.
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