Nenshi and CalgaryNEXT CEO differ on project’s future viability
CalgaryNEXT, the proposed hybrid arena-stadium-field house complex in the West Village, is “dead,” Mayor Naheed Nenshi told reporters Monday.
Nenshi’s remarks come three months after Ken King, the CEO of the group behind the proposed mega project, said CalgaryNEXT would not be abandoned but was on pause while Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. officials focused their efforts on discussing a Plan B, slated for Victoria Park, with city hall.
Yet, on Monday, during a media scrum, Nenshi said the hypothetical new West Village arena — unveiled by the Calgary Flames organization in August 2015 on city-owned creosote-contaminated land near the Bow River in Sunalta — was no more.
“The thing about a new arena project, and I’ll use those terms because CalgaryNEXT, the West Village project, is dead,” Nenshi said when asked if the federal government’s planned Canada Infrastructure Bank could be used to pay for CalgaryNEXT.
“But, the thing about a new arena project is that our first criteria has always been public money for public benefit, so it really is up to the Calgary Sports and Entertainment (Corp.) to figure out what the public benefit is,” the mayor continued.
Asked about Nenshi’s remarks, King expressed surprise.
“Notwithstanding that I was not present or did not understand the context of the mayor’s comments, I am surprised.
“Our understanding is that, as directed by council, CalgaryNEXT is ultimately to be compared with a Victoria Park option,” King said Monday afternoon.
“It’s my understanding that council would be the final determinant of the future of CalgaryNEXT, rather than any unilateral decision.”
King restated that the ownership group was asked to “pause” comparing CalgaryNEXT to Plan B, in favour of an exclusive period to discuss the Plan B option.
“We agreed to this and are currently in the midst of those discussions,” he said.
“We’re moving along looking at the Victoria Park option as we were requested to do. But what seems clear by the statements, at least one person, that being the mayor, has made his choice well known.”
The city’s so-called Plan B, which includes a new arena and event centre in Victoria Park on the Stampede grounds, a field house in the northwest and some renovation of McMahon Stadium, first publicly surfaced in June, nearly a year after the Calgary Flames organization unveiled its $890-million CalgaryNEXT plan.
Coun. Evan Woolley, who represents the area where CalgaryNEXT is proposed, said Monday it’s up to city council as a whole to determine the fate of CalgaryNEXT and that hasn’t yet happened.
“We’ve tasked administration to go and look at a Plan B. That work is ongoing. Ultimately, this decision rests with council,” he said.
Nick Twyman, the past president of the Sunalta Community Association, said Monday he wasn’t surprised Nenshi labelled CalgaryNEXT dead, given the mayor’s less-than-enthusiastic opinions on the new arena and the fact talk about the West Village project has quieted in recent months.
“I wouldn’t call it shocking that he’s saying it’s dead,” Twyman said.
“I can’t remember the last time we had a meeting about this project.”
Twyman said no matter what happens with a potential new arena, the land in his inner-city neighbourhood, where a former wood preserving plant left nearly two million litres of toxic creosote, needs to be cleaned up.
“Whether CalgaryNEXT happens or not, the city has to deal with (the creosote), because it’s really a ticking time bomb,” he said.
Woolley agreed that whether or not CalgaryNEXT moves forward in the West Village, environmental work must take place.
“We have a huge environmental liability and that’s not going away,” he said.
After stating the West Village project was dead, Nenshi went on to tell reporters the substitute arena plan in Victoria Park may qualify for funds under the planned Canada Infrastructure Bank, set to use federal dollars and privatesector funding to finance projects that might not otherwise be built.
“Those transit and road improvements have to stand on their own, they have to be improvements that we would make regardless and that’s one of the reasons why, by the way, that a potential site in Victoria Park makes way more sense than CalgaryNEXT because those infrastructure investments including the Green Line are happening anyway,” Nenshi said Monday morning.
It’s my understanding that council would be the final determinant of the future of CalgaryNEXT.