A report will be presented to City Council on Monday which includes two potential options, whittled down from five, for a new event centre/arena, as one of the key anchors to the future Downtown Event & Entertainment district. They are the north parking lot of Midtown Shopping Centre and north Downtown at the City Yards. If approved on Monday, there will be public engagement on the two options.

Director of Technical Services, Dan Willems, says, “Based on the technical criteria, the Midtown location is the highest scoring site and affirmed by two external consultants”. A news release from the City says public engagement on the two locations wasn’t possible before, because there were lengthy real estate discussions going on at one of the sites. The City says the event centre/arena site, along with the convention centre will act as an anchor for the rest of the District development, and the Bus Rapid Transit system will connect the District to the entire city.

Two sites were determined to be too small – 22nd Street and Idylwyld Drive, and the Toys R Us parking lot. The River Landing site wasn’t chosen because of its poor ranking in relation to most of the approved technical evaluation criteria.

The public engagement will include a representative sample survey of Saskatoon residents that includes a surveys by phone and through an online panel. There will be an opt-in online public survey for residents and those from other communities, as well as one for local businesses and organizations, and intercept surveys where residents will be asked to participate at various locations.