Smith says Calgary didn’t request dollars for downtown; Gondek sent letter in November | 24CA News
The query of why provincial funds for Calgary’s downtown have been left off the newest price range has been answered by Alberta’s premier.
But paperwork from the town refute her reasoning.
“It just so happens that we didn’t receive our priority list from the City of Calgary,” Premier Danielle Smith stated at an unrelated news convention Monday.
On Thursday on the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Finance Minister Travis Toews stated there was no “business case” offered to the province for funding to go to the downtown of the province’s largest metropolis.
“I’m meeting tomorrow with (Edmonton) Mayor (Amarjeet) Sohi. Mayor Sohi did write me a letter and told me what his priorities are for Edmonton,” Smith added Monday. “And so I’m looking forward to meeting with (Calgary) Mayor (Jyoti) Gondek to find out what her priorities are and I hope we’ll be able to come to a conclusion on that.”
But three and a half months in the past, Gondek despatched a seven-page price range submission for the province to think about forward of the 2023-24 price range that was launched final week.
Gondek’s Nov. 14, 2022, letter highlighted seven suggestions: “broad” municipal finance reform, enhancing Family and Community Support Services funding, committing to a Bow River reservoir choices examine, contribution to a multisport fieldhouse, committing funds to earnings helps and the low-income transit move, enhancing entry to reasonably priced housing, and a request to match the town’s $100-million funding within the downtown revitalization plan.
That letter was addressed to Toews and CCed to Smith.
“It is a little complicated for me to explain why I would give $100 million to a Toronto-based REIT (real estate investment trust) so that they can renovate their building,” Smith stated Monday. “I accept that that’s a bit of a complicated argument to be made. And all the minister said is, show me the business case for that.”
The metropolis’s revitalization framework caps funding for any venture. For instance, a trio of downtown towers received $31.7 million in April 2022 for office-to-residential conversions.
In the earlier price range, the town received simply $5 million when it made the same request. In the newest price range, no cash was allotted to encourage non-public reinvestment in in any other case vacant buildings within the metropolis’s downtown, which has misplaced billions in property worth and the ensuing taxes.
The province’s May 2022 report from the Calgary Office Revitalization and Expansion working group, co-chaired by Calgary-Currie MLA Nick Milliken — now the minister of psychological well being and dependancy — listed “provide incentives to develop real estate” as the highest precedence.
“The City’s proposed $450 million investment in office conversion is expected to generate a $600 million return in property tax revenue and $142 million in provincial tax revenues over a 10-year cycle,” the report reads.
That mirrored the technique the town accomplished on the necessity for downtown revitalization.
“We’ve been incredibly intentional and clear on what it is that we need,” Gondek informed Global News Mornings on Friday. “We have a business plan that was permitted two years in the past. The provincial authorities themselves, underneath Minister (Doug) Schweitzer on the time, did a full overview and agreed.
“So to listen to Minister Toews say that he’s by no means seen a business case appears odd.
“But we will continue to work with the ministers that we speak with regularly and identify opportunities.”
Gondek’s workplace stated she wasn’t obtainable to touch upon Monday.
Monday morning, Smith pointed to the general public security activity pressure that has a dozen Alberta sheriffs added to downtown patrols.
She additionally raised the opportunity of extra-provincial post-secondary establishments establishing a satellite tv for pc campus in downtown Calgary.
The University of Calgary, Athabasca University and Bow Valley College have already got campuses within the metropolis’s core, with SAIT sitting simply north of the Bow River.
“If you’ve got a lot of students that are in downtown Calgary, Edmonton, that then helps with retail and shopping and restaurants,” Smith stated.
“So we think that there’s a lot of opportunity there, but we can only respond to requests and we can only respond with actual proposals on the table. And at the moment we don’t have any of those.”
In April 2022, the Alberta NDP promised $155 million for downtown redevelopment, if elected within the spring.
More to come back…
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