FAREWELL, TAYLOR FIELD
Saskatchewan Roughriders legend George Reed is among many former and current players with strong memories of past heroics on the turf of Taylor Field. Today, the stadium, which opened in 1936, plays host to its final Canadian Football League game.
Next year, the new Mosaic Stadium will become the home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and the old Mosaic Stadium will begin its transition from legendary stadium to a mixed-use development.
The plan is for the 20 acres of land to be redeveloped into a site with a variety of housing options, a local park and commercial opportunities, serving as a key link between the Railyard Redevelopment Project, the downtown core and the new Mosaic Stadium.
“Behind the scenes, there has been some work being done. There has been a decommissioning study,” Mayor Michael Fougere said. “The vision and approach has been to develop, with community associations, what that place will look like when the stadium is demolished.”
Focus on what the project will look like, and the consultations, will begin in 2017. The estimated timeline has the decommission and preparation of the site occurring through 2017 and 2018, with development beginning after that. The Taylor Field Neighbourhood should be completed by 2027 or 2028.
“The administration is providing reports that will outline the steps and process,” Fougere said, adding that the current focus is on the Railyard Renewal Project.
“Our intention is to move forward with the final stage of the RRI. (Regina Revitalization Initiative) It includes a park, residences and to make it a complete neighbourhood.”
The Railyard Renewal Project will redevelop the 17.5 acres of the old Canadian Pacific Railway yard into a new commercial and residential area of the city.
Fougere is confident of the positive impact the Taylor Field Neighbourhood will have.
“No question, it will be a positive impact,” he said. “It will be a newer neighbourhood. It will be part of the infill of our city, and it will assist the North Central area with development.”
While the project is still in its very early stages, there is some concern in North Central about the project’s future.
“I would like to see that it actually happens — being the timeline is so long, we want to make sure the development happens,” said Michael Parker, executive director of the North Central Community Association. “I would like for them to follow through with the commitment to community consultation and reference the community plan we will present to them in the spring.”
Parker would also like the City of Regina to see the project not as a separate neighbourhood, but part of the North Central neighbourhood itself.
“I would like them to change the language and stop calling it the Taylor Field Neighbourhood, and call it the Taylor Field Development,” he said.
“It is part of the North Central neighbourhood, and we feel that any planning in it needs to be done in the context of North Central as a whole.”
Fougere said it will be a part of the North Central area, not separate from it.
“It will be integrated with the current neighbourhood,” he said. “The name shouldn’t detract from the essence of the proposal, which is to extend the (North Central) neighbourhood.”
As for the residents of North Central, the response to the development has been positive but cautious.
“I think a lot of residents, they are a bit suspicious that this will happen as they were promised,” Parker said. “Some are excited and optimistic about what it can mean to the community, though.”
Affordable housing is planned for the development. The Taylor Field Neighbourhood is also expected to have a more residential structure than the Railyard Renewal Project.
“There will be varying degrees of density,” Fougere said. “There will be affordable housing.”
Stu Niebergall, president and CEO of the Regina & Region Home Builders’ Association, sees the development as a major opportunity for the city.
“I think it is a terrific idea. I think it has lots of good opportunities for the local community,” Niebergall said. “I think it is a great way to honour the legacy of the stadium in some fashion, through it. It is quite positive, from that perspective.”
Despite the opportunities, Niebergall does see some challenges ahead for the development of the area, including ensuring there is affordable housing built.
“One of the challenges that the city will have to wrestle with, because of their commitment, is to get some affordable and mixed housing in place, as well,” Niebergall said. “If you look at projects across the country, to really get that affordable housing, someone has to pay the cost. It means building below the cost to produce it. If you charge someone less, you have to charge someone else more.”
With the commitment to affordable housing, Niebergall hopes that developers also work with organizations like Habitat for Humanity.
Niebergall said he hopes “that they look at non-profit housing providers like Habitat for Humanity as a great tool for achieving that goal of providing below-market housing on the project.”
“That allows them to not have to get the premium elsewhere.”
The Taylor Field Neighbourhood will provide a huge change to the North Central area and could provide a great deal of gentrification, Niebergall said.
“With a new project, you may be hesitant today to buy a house in that neighbourhood because you have perceptions of it,” he said. “When there is a nicely done new mixed-use community, and you are on the peripheral of that, you may perceive that as reducing that risk and that it may be an opportunity.”
Niebergall cited Cathedral as a location in the city that went through a similar change.
“We look at the Cathedral area that I lived in many years ago, when we first bought a home. It had just moved past that cusp of being a less-desirable community,” he said. “Today it is one of the more loved communities because of investments that happened, new services and people investing in housing stock. The value goes up, and more people do that, and the community changes.”