Levy to fund Victoria Park revitalization
Asked for a timeline for decisionmaking on the arena project, King said he’d release some details about his plans in the coming weeks.
“We’ll have a good chance to evaluate whether or not their vision for Victoria Park is a fit for us, and it may well be,” he said. “One thing is for sure, we need a new facility.”
Susan Veres, a senior vice-president at the city’s land agency, said consultants preparing the Victoria Park master plan must consider scenarios that involve a new arena on Stampede grounds and others that do not.
With a first draft due in June, the master plan along with the local improvements will move ahead whether a new arena is built at Victoria Park or not, Veres said.
“We need the infrastructure before we attract vertical development, just like we did at East Village,” she said. “We spent ‘07, ‘08 and ‘09 putting the streetscape in place and then developers were attracted in. CMLC is going to move pretty quickly now into planning those infrastructure programs.”
Last year, city hall and the Calgary Stampede signed a memorandum of understanding in which the city’s land developer agreed to offer planning and business support on several projects in the area. The groups agreed to collaborate on an extension of 17th Avenue, an expansion of the BMO Centre’s convention and trade space, and possibly additions to the riverside walkway.
Infrastructure improvements planned for Victoria Park, including new bike lanes, will be funded by a community revitalization levy, a portion of property tax revenues generated in east downtown.
“Thousands of residents have had their property taxes pay into that (levy), and they haven’t seen any reinvestment in their community,” Woolley said. “You’ve got thousands and thousands of people living with no park space.”
Thousands of residents have had their property taxes pay into that (levy), and they haven’t seen any reinvestment in their community.