Here is CBC's article from this morning on the four projects to be discussed at City Council today:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-infrastructure-city-council-list-1.4994997
Again, they are:
- Arts Commons expansion / upgrades around Olympic Plaza
- BMO Centre expansion
- An arena to replace the iconic Olympic Saddledome
- A new field house at Foothills athletic park
If I were to rank the importance (or urgency) of these, I'd say: BMO, Field House, Arts Commons (close to #2) and then Arena.
My general reasonings are that the BMO expansion and Field House would add to what is done / can be done in Calgary, whereas the Arts Commons project and Arena project do not actually change much. The BMO project is the only one of the four that would material add to the economy by bringing in dollars from outside the city, whereas the other three will basically be vying for Calgarians' dollars, and not bringing anyone from outside. That being said, the Arts Commons project upgrades the centre of the city, and I think would be highly visible and activate the growing architectural value of our spaces. I would have ranked Arts Commons above the Field House, but know that the city has previously placed the Field House at the top of the un-funded projects list.
From what I understand, the outcome of today will not be to zap any of the projects, but to balance cashflow with project timing. The assessments done for the now defunct Olympics bid were in this context extremely helpful. They identified that the Olympic Saddledome has still a very long life and would have been more than adequate as the premier home of an Olympic Winter Games in the second half of the next decade, so in my mind, that project is a decade out, but will be nice to pin that on a wall somewhere.
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