A proposed $42-million sports campus will go under the microscope later this year as the city looks to see if it’s worth the investment.
The Gazette learned this week that the City of St. Albert had put out a call for quotes on a value for money assessment of the proposed Active Communities Alberta sports and community campus.
A non-profit group, ACA has for several years lobbied the city to support construction of a sports campus in the city’s northwest. Plans shown at an open house in February portrayed a facility with 20,000 square feet of gym space, office and retail room, two arenas and a $42-million price tag.
City council signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the group in June 2018. Under it, the city will chip in up to $20 million to build the facility provided it is built in St. Albert, backed by $10 million each from the federal and provincial governments, and subject to a $10,000 value for money assessment by an outside consultant.
ACA president Matt Bachewich said city parks officials emailed him June 9 to say they had started work on the assessment.
“We’re excited that administration is moving forward with this,” he said, and is looking forward to supporting the assessment.
Bachewich said he believed the assessment would look at what it would cost to run this facility under a non-profit model compared to a city-run one.
Bachewich said ACA believes it could run the sports campus on a break-even basis, as non-profits are efficient and could access grants and donations. Based on the city’s operating deficits for Servus Place and Fountain Park Recreation Centre, ACA estimates a non-profit approach could save the city about $1 million a year.
A 2018 report to city council on the ACA proposal found there were facilities in Calgary run by non-profits that did not require operational subsidies, but those facilities were in markets with about 150,000 users. The report found Calgary did have to pay capital and maintenance costs for those facilities.
Bachewich said this project would be an attractive investment for the province, as it would create about 216 construction and 75 permanent jobs. The group’s business case estimates the campus would add about $1.6 million a year to provincial income tax revenue and have an incremental economic impact of $32 million a year from tournaments and events.
Bachewich said the group hopes to see results from the assessment before the end of the year, after which they would pursue grants from the federal and provincial governments.
No one from the City of St. Albert was able to comment on the assessment as of June 12.
