Funding for $250M event park next to Oilers arena tied to future of city tax levy

A new event park besides Rogers Place in Edmonton is complicating the debate around whether to extend the community revitalization levy.

One Edmonton councillor is questioning why the city should pay, through a tax levy, for a portion of the downtown event park project announced earlier this year by the province and the organization that runs the Edmonton Oilers.

The Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) along with the Alberta government and the City of Edmonton originally laid out plans for the $250-million permanent fan park facility adjacent to Rogers Place in February after the province laid bare spending details in its annual budget.

The province has committed nearly $130 million to the Ice District projects if the city pitches in millions of public dollars through the downtown Community Revitalization Levy (CRL).

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The future of the CRL is a topic of discussion at Edmonton city hall, where council is considering a 10-year extension of it.

Since 2015, the CRL has funded parks, infrastructure upgrades and other so-called catalyst projects downtown.

The city says they’ve helped generate nearly $5 billion-worth of public and private investment and development, including Rogers Place, towers downtown and LRT expansion.

But after the pandemic interrupted that momentum, business leaders and downtown boosters say an extension of the CRL is vital.

“We’re talking about $550 million in tax uplift that is coming that would be lost without the extension,” Doug Griffiths, the president and chief executive officer of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, told media on Monday.

The permanent event park plus site servicing for homes north of the arena are all on land owned by the OEG.

But Griffiths says discussion over the extension of the CRL “is not about the fan park – one councillor is making this about the fan park – this is about downtown Edmonton and the entire city’s fiscal sustainability over the next 20 years.”

That councillor is Michael Janz, who says the provincial government and the OEG “setting up this deal, and then sharing it with Edmontonians … is not how this should go.”

“If we want to have a conversation about how to maximize public dollars for public benefit, let’s have that in public, but this is not it,” he told media.

The representative for the south-side Ward papastew says the decision over the event park funding should be put to residents in a referendum, separating it from the debate over the CRL, a tax program he otherwise calls beneficial as it would help fund projects such as transit, bridges and beautification efforts along Jasper Avenue.

“The owners can pay for it themselves,” Janz said. “They don’t need Edmontonians to pay for this. We have a lot of other priorities that we need to pay for.”

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton on Monday afternoon, Dan Williams, Alberta’s minister of municipal affairs, said the province “remains committed” to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) it signed with the city regarding the event park funding, which is tied to other funding for city projects, including housing and the demolition of the Coliseum.

“As part of the MOU, we would extend Edmonton’s community revitalization levy, which would play a key role in ensuring expanding housing options in downtown and that Edmontonians have year-round access to incredible sports, cultural events, entertainment, and much more,” Williams said.

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said Tuesday he supports extending the CRL, as it has funded several “catalyst projects ... generating billions in investment” since it was created.

He said people need to look at the whole picture.

“The event park is only one of six or seven projects we’ll be able to do if we extend the CRL by 10 years,” Sohi told media on Tuesday.

“I am very excited and hopeful with the extension, if approved by council, we will be able to finish Winspear (expansion) construction ... That’s a huge uplift for downtown.”

The event park is expected to be the focus of a public hearing on extending the CRL Thursday at city hall.