Emokhare Paul Anthony
Daily Herald
Prince Albert city council has asked for a report on costs to prepare an unused downtown lot for conversion into an open air music venue.
Coun. Blake Edwards brought the item forward during Monday’s council meeting. The lot in question is located at the corner of 11th Street East and Central Avenue.
“The more I speak to musicians in town, and the more I speak to people about our downtown area, it’s about getting people down there (and) putting more events on,” Edwards said. “It doesn’t always have to fall on the Downtown Business Improvement (PADBID).”
Edwards said he would like to see a space where a band could pull in with a trailer and play live music. He said providing free live music would be a great way to draw people to the area and support local businesses.
“Having people come to our downtown is important, and this is strictly about a vision. I know we’re looking at downtown improvements, but this is about a vision.”
The City of Prince Albert rejected a roughly $36,000 budget request during their 2024 budget debate to cut down trees in the lot and prepare it for public use. Edwards said he didn’t think that total was accurate, and wants to revisit the proposal.
Mayor Greg Dionne raised objections during the meeting about how often the space would be used. He said the City can’t afford to fund a site that may only be used a few times a year.
“We have a stage on the front of this building (City Hall). We have a portable stage that we bring down for the Street Fair, and I’m not going to spend taxpayers’ money if it’s going to be used once, twice, three times a year.”
Dionne said he liked the idea and supported getting a report, but was concerned about who would organize events in that space if it wasn’t PADBID.
Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp referenced the City’s Central Avenue Streetscape Development Master Plan during the discussion. She said it would be great to use the lot for positive pro-social activities, and wanted to know if the City could put a playground in the area too.
City Planning and Development Director Craig Guidinger said the takeaway from the Streetscape Design Document was that the plot was a usable space that could host various activities, not just a playground our outdoor music venue.
“The point was that it is a usable space and that was the most important thing. It was identified as part of an area that could be developed,” Guidinger said.
Edwards said the masterplan was great, but the City hadn’t made much progress on it. He said the goal of this report was to get a cost total so other individuals or businesses could determine if they want to support the project.
The motion passed unanimously.
Council also gave final approval for the Letter of Understand (LOU) between the City and Saskbuilds and Procurement during the meeting. Dionne shed some light on the cost estimation during the short discussion.
“In March 2023, the government announced the community’s share of this project, which was $56.2 million, and that was for the expansion and renovation of the Vic Hospital, and it’s since been broken down that the foundation (Boreal Healthcare Foundation) is taking on $30 million and the municipal contribution—which is all the municipalities north of us, including us—is $26.2 million, and our share is $13 million,” Dionne said. “With this agreement, we should almost be collecting two-thirds of that back, which is a great saving four our taxpayers.”
Correction: an earlier version of this article incorrectly listed the location as 11th Street and Second Avenue instead of 11th Street and Central Avenue. The Daily Herald apologizes for the error.
