City report says new arena should be part of any future downtown plans

Any future downtown plans for Saskatoon should be developed with the option of building a new arena in the city centre, according to a new city report.

Where it would be and what it would cost are still open questions.

"Our basic perspective on it is [an arena] would be better off with a location that is more central, so likely in the downtown, to facilitate a better synergy with all the existing amenities in the downtown," said Lesley Anderson, the city's director of Planning and Development.

That means there would be potential benefits for restaurants, hotels and shopping if there was a combined arena-convention centre downtown.

Consultants have previously recommended the 30-year-old SaskTel Centre be replaced with a new joint-use downtown arena and convention centre. The cost is pegged between $330 million and $375 million.

Arena impact

Putting an arena downtown would have major impact on everything from traffic and parking to water and sewer.

One key consideration for the city is where any proposed facility would be located in relation to the Bus Rapid Transit network (BRT).

"The downtown in general has a lot of capacity to hold these types of facilities and there is a lot of different sites that could be potentially available for it."

Coun. Troy Davies, who sits on the SaskTel Centre board of directors, said the report is only one step in a long process and no decisions have been made either way.

"We are just really cautious on making sure we get it out to the public saying, 'Look, we are not paying for this tomorrow, but we need to plan for tomorrow.' "

He said they have been told the arena has eight to 10 years of lifespan left in the current condition.

With council looking at so many big proposals, like the BRT and the growth plan for downtown, it is prudent to look into the question of a new arena/convention centre.

"This is just good governance and good policy by the city asking these questions and asking council for some guidance on this," Davies said.

Paying for it

Then there is the question of how to pay for a new facility.

Financial Officer Kerry Tarasoff said the city can look at several options to finance a new arena/convention centre.

"I think what council is probably looking at if they go that route is how do we minimize the impact to the property tax," Tarasoff said.

Options include raising taxes, a business improvement levy, tourism taxes or P3 funding.

Another option would be what is called tax incremental funding (TIF).

Tarasof said TIF is basically freezing assessment around a certain area where the arena would be built.

"Then as development occurs all the incremental property taxes that occur after that point can be used to pay toward a certain project," Tarasoff said.

Which means if a new arena/convention centre creates more development in that area, the added municipal taxes would help pay for that investment.

Tarasoff said Edmonton used that method when they built Rogers Place.

He said while the feds have said they are not interested in funding these types of projects, the provincial government might be a source of funding.

"Without that provincial piece, I think as I said in the report, the financing or the business case is weakened quite a bit."

The report said convention centres that have been built in Canada since 2010 on average have seen about 25 per cent of the funding come from the municipality.

Since 2005 an average of about 60 per cent of the funding for arenas or stadiums in cities without NHL teams has been provided by the municipality — as was the case with Mosaic Stadium in Regina (62 per cent).

Renovating the existing SaskTel Centre has been pegged at $100 million, while the estimated cost of renovating TCU theatre is $18 million.

The report will be considered Tuesday by the Governance and Priorities Committee.