Quote:
Originally Posted by StealthGirl
In the provincial budget, the province is taking over responsibility for Wascana Centre. Curious to see if that puts a halt to some of the damn building in the park since the mayor can't say no to anything.
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Once again, the Mayor (or, more accurately - City Council) did not, nor could he make this decision. Council could have exercised a degree of control by not giving the parcel of land to the UofR - this would only have served to force the UofR to locate the building in a different spot (likely south of Darke Hall, rather than west of it). The City has absolutely no say in development within the Centre... Wascana Centre can opt out of any City plan, bylaw, etc that it wishes to (Councillors & the Mayor obviously exerted influence, and Wascana, the UofR & City tended to collaborate on planning processes & documents).
The Province currently holds 5 out of 11 Wascana Centre Board seats. The budget announcement will change little when it comes to College Ave. As noted before, the Province has no interest in seeing the College Ave Campus collapse, but they also don't have the finances to cover the costs Conexus is picking up... there was zero chance Provincial Board members were voting against the project. All they need is one additional vote, and the UofR was certainly not going to vote against it. Even in your dream world, where every City Board member stood up & said NO!, the Conexus proposal would have passed 8 to 3.
So, no - this changes nothing regarding the Conexus project.
As I've said before, the Brandt project has always been a longshot, as the Wascana Board has been quite protective of the Centre's mandate ("
the development of the seat of Government, the enlargement of educational, research and development opportunities, the advancement of cultural arts, the improvement of recreational facilities and the conservation of the environment"). The Conexus building itself - despite its critics' concerns - does not set a precedent & open up the flood gates to commercial development. This said, the Province hasn't exactly been great at saying no to major businesses in this province - so, if anything, I'd say this change increases (ever so slightly) the chance that Brandt & other commercial projects go ahead.
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