Arena Consultation Captures Range of Opinions

November 23, 2010

Thousands provide input, share ideas

The current phase of public consultation on the proposed downtown sports and entertainment facility has concluded. The City is now compiling and analyzing the input and ideas provided by the thousands of Edmontonians who participated. City Council directed administration to undertake consultation on the potential project and the consultation report will be provided to Council in January 2011.

“We’re pleased with the range of opinion we received, because this was about capturing the diversity of thinking,” said Linda Cochrane, General Manager of Community Services with the City of Edmonton. “We have some really rich information to look at and to provide to Council for their decision-making, and we’d like to thank everyone who participated for sharing their time and energy in this process.”

The consultation consisted of four public open houses followed by facilitated discussion sessions, an online questionnaire meant to provide an opportunity for input for those unable to attend the in-person sessions, and two stakeholder sessions for downtown and area businesses, residents, community groups, non-profit organizations and educational institutions.

Over 300 people attended the public open houses, with 200 staying to participate in the facilitated discussion groups that followed. An additional 70 people attended the stakeholder sessions. The online questionnaire was completed 28,979 times.

“We learned a lot as we went along,” added Cochrane. “We tried to remain responsive to what we heard throughout the consultation, tweaking the presentations and points of emphasis based upon feedback we received from participants.”

The input into the online questionnaire reflects the range of opinions of the people who completed it, and based on the high number of completed questionnaires received, it was a useful method for people to provide their input. However, the results do not reflect a statistically valid, representative sample of the views of the population of Edmonton on this subject, and this will be noted in the consultation report that goes to City Council.
 
In addition to the consultation report, the following reports and presentations will be provided to City Council in the coming months:

  • Detailed responses to 144 questions asked by the mayor and councillors at the July 21 council meeting on the proposed downtown arena.
  • A business model framework for the financing and operating of a potential downtown sports and entertainment facility.
  • An assessment of the potential impacts on City operations, infrastructure and investments of a new downtown sports and entertainment facility.
  • An assessment of the potential impacts of a new sports and entertainment facility on Edmonton Northlands and the future of Rexall Place.
  • A Public Hearing on the Katz Group rezoning application for the lands north of 104 Avenue and west of 101 Street.

Please continue to visit www.edmonton.ca/downtownarena for updates and new information as it becomes available. 

For more information:

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