Aquatic centre plan still leaves land for housing at former Taylor Field
The location of the new aquatic centre at the heart of a $128-million funding commitment made Thursday will not preclude affordable housing development near the old Taylor Field site, says Regina's mayor.
The intended location for the project will not be taking over the land where the old stadium once stood, Mayor Sandra Masters clarified in response to questions Thursday after city officials described the project as a development at the former Taylor Field site.
“We call it `the Taylor Field lands' like we call the Yards `the Yards,' ” she said.
The colloquial reference includes the Saskatchewan-shaped section sandwiched between Saskatchewan Drive and 10th Avenue where the Lawson Aquatic Centre and City of Regina Fieldhouse still remain, and the fenced-in dirt field where the stadium once stood.
The new aquatic centre will be built on the former parcel, which totals 17 acres. It will take up seven acres directly behind the Lawson Aquatic Centre, largely eating up parking lot space.
Of the 10 acres left, “a portion of that, about six acres, is left for other development,” Masters said.
Public concern stemmed from a decades-long plan the city proposed in 2011, when it became clear Taylor Field was to be torn down, to push for the levelled land to be used for affordable housing.
Asked about the Regina Revitalization Initiative, and the housing projects yet to materialize, Masters said only that the land left over will be “developable.”
She suggested it would be up to interested developers to put forward pitches. The city is amenable to improving infill and intensification goals, she added.
“Any conversation that I've had, talked to different groups who may have an interest in it, it's always about mixed-use housing and being involved in that,” she said.
“You don't want only affordable housing, you want mixed income housing. It's important that we do that, from an affordable housing perspective.”
The over 400-page catalyst committee's report suggested potentially a synthetic soccer field or a ball diamond for the space.
A new aquatic centre was a top priority that rose to the top of the pool during those catalyst meetings a year ago. It was the project that the most respondents in the committee's survey named as a top priority to proceed, and also the most expensive.
The aquatic centre and the accompanying geothermal heating facility are budgeted as a $160.7-million to $181.5-million project, with $153-million (plus a five per cent inflation buffer) for the new pool and $28.5 million for the geothermal facility.
With $128.1 million coming from the joint governmental agreements through the federal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), an amount of $95.3 million is left on the city's plate to deliver.
Part of the agreement to land the ICIP grant is to decommission the Lawson Aquatic Centre within five years of completing the new facility.