Edmonton city council has approved a master agreement for a new event park by the Edmonton Oilers ownership.

The approval is tied to other projects which include the construction of 2,500 housing units in the Village at Ice District and demolishing the Coliseum.

Debate dominated city council on Monday regarding the merits of approving the agreement for the event park and site servicing and whether it would jeopardize funding for housing or the demolition if the approval was not granted.

Concerns remain over the use of public funds for private projects, like the proposed event park being built in partnership between the City of Edmonton, the province and OEG Sports and Entertainment.

The total cost of all projects is $408.2 million, which will be shared among all three parties.

Monday’s vote passed 9 to 4 with councillors Michael Janz, Erin Rurtherford, Jo-Anne Wright and Andrew Knack voting against the motion to approve the master agreement.

“A gun is to our head right now, saying, ‘No, don’t dare amend this agreement, because if you amend it, we don’t have enough time to fix it. It’s going to be thrown away,'” said Knack who is also running for mayor in this fall’s municipal election.

“We’ve been given no choice. You either have to say, ‘Yes, we want some of this money’, but not actually accomplishing the majority of our goals, or you could try to amend it and then potentially risk the whole piece.”

OEG commits to housing plan

“We have committed to diligently advance and progress the development of the first 354 units at the Village at ICE District,” said Tim Shipton, EVP with OEG, in a statement to CBC.

The expected completed timeline for the first 354 units is the second half of 2028.

“And once complete, continue to advance towards the construction of approximately 420 additional units within the following five years.”

The future of the projects are contingent on each other because they have been lumped together in what’s known as the Capital City Downtown Community Revitalization Levy which was approved in June by council.

City council voted in June to extend the divisive levy for another decade, following a two-day public hearing into the matter.

Supporters of the CRL have argued it is a tool that can provide millions of dollars for infrastructure projects in the city, but some Edmontonians have expressed concern about how it can be used and who it benefits.

CBC requested comment from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs on whether the province would revoke CRL funding if council voted against proceeding with the master agreement.

“The City of Edmonton was party to the [memorandum of understanding] that was developed several months ago and announced in February,” said Kevin Lee, ministry press secretary, in a statement to CBC.

“We expect all partners involved in the MOU to abide by its terms.”

September 1 was outlined as the MOU deadline for the master agreement between the City and OEG to be concluded. September 30 is the deadline for provincial approvals under the MOU, according to the province.

Ward Sspomitapi Coun. Jo-Anne Wright said it was difficult to make a decision given the deadline.

“I do think this was a rush deal, right from the start,” said Wright.

“I appreciate the negotiation and then the time spent putting in the work on this, but I think there are some more details that I was hoping to see specifically missing from the public benefit piece.”

The signing of the agreement allows city administration to access provincial funding to demolish the Coliseum and continue to progress work on Exhibition Lands.

Concern was also raised about the impact the new event park would have on diverting event traffic from existing facilities like the Edmonton Convention Centre.

“We had raised the risk previously about event park potentially cannibalizing some of the existing venues,” said ward O-day’min Coun. Anne Stevenson who ultimately voted in favour of the agreement.

“Opening this up for conferences and conventions seems to directly threaten our own asset with the convention centre.”

In a statement to CBC, Explore Edmonton CEO Traci Bednard said the organization is in support of the agreement.

“There will be positive impacts on our visitor economy, including downtown Edmonton. As well, the demolition of Northlands will have a positive impact on the Expo Centre, one of the City’s two major convention facilities,” Bednard  said.

“We appreciate the assurances raised by councillors to ensure clarity of intentions; OEG again confirmed to us today that conventions and conferences are not an intended use of Fan Park.”

“With respect to this notion of competing space for trade shows and exhibitions and conventions looking to Calgary as maybe the primary example. They have added monumental amounts of space and contemporary space to their city,” Ward pihesiwin Coun. Tim Cartmell told council.

“There seems to be almost a presumption that these spaces will be competing. Is there an opportunity that these spaces are complementary and that they’re working together?” said Cartmell who is also running for mayor and supported the motion.

Mayor Sohi further clarified that the event park will pay property taxes and day-to-day operations will fall to OEG, which city administration confirmed.

The event park is expected to open in 2029.