Katz Group consultant: ‘It’s our downtown’

A new arena and entertainment district will revitalize downtown and spur Edmonton’s development, a Katz Group planning consultant says.

“It’s our downtown. We want to make it successful and alive, like it was for Grey Cup weekend,” Simon O’Byrne told a public hearing Tuesday. “This project will help do that and have double or triple the amount of activity everywhere downtown.”

In the second day of scrutiny for the high-profile scheme, Edmonton city council is looking at whether to rezone land so construction can go ahead on 4.9 hectares north of 104th Avenue between 101st Street and 104th Street.

Another parcel — now a parking lot east of the Greyhound bus station on the south side of 104th Avenue — will keep its current zoning for bars, restaurants, shops and other uses.

The two properties would be linked by a wide “winter garden” pedestrian bridge across 104th Avenue.

The area could also include a casino to replace the Baccarat Casino, office buildings up to 60 storeys tall, housing and students residences.

Jim Low, head of planning and development for the Katz Group, said they received a good response to a request for proposals for two hotels in the district which the company made late last year.

“Some of the hoteliers said Edmonton wasn’t on our radar screen before hearing about your project. Now it is.”

The proposed zoning requires exceptional design, innovative signs, street-level shops and activity, and easy pedestrian access.

Regulations concerning many details of the project will have to be approved by the city, and any zoning change wouldn’t take effect until the city sells a half-hectare parcel of land on the site set aside for park.

The money from that sale would be used to develop a park elsewhere downtown.

Coun. Linda Sloan expressed concern that if the zoning is passed council might not have another chance for input.

“If it took 20 years for this to be fully built out … neither this council or any other council going forward would have the opportunity to review those things.”

But the zoning change is supported by city planners and other departments, which don’t see any outstanding technical problems.

They feel streets and transit can handle the crush of fans attending an Oilers game, with 26,000 parking stalls and six existing or proposed LRT stations within a 10-minute walk.

The morning hearing was focused on speakers in favour of the project, including the Downtown Edmonton Community League.

More than a half-dozen opponents are likely to make their arguments in the afternoon.

On Monday, council agreed to start negotiations with the Katz Group on how to fund and manage the arena, but financial issues aren’t allowed to be discussed as part of a zoning hearing.

Some information from those talks is scheduled to be presented to council March 2.