EDMONTON - When Michael Gulayets walks to work along 104th Avenue each morning, he already sees ample evidence of growth along the road to where a $480-million arena will one day sit.

But the MacEwan University criminologist knows development isn’t a social panacea, and that rough pockets sit on the other side of the campus where he works. Built on old railway lands in the early 1990s, the university building was also deemed a revitalization project.

Underlying social problems don’t just disappear when developers step in, and academics like Gulayets talk about “crime displacement.”

“There’s some other community out there that will potentially see an increase in criminal activity,” Gulayets said. “It pops out in some other direction, and sometimes you can’t predict where it’s going to go.”

Promise and peril are the two broad themes that emerge in reactions after Edmonton city council voted on Wednesday to approve a new downtown arena.

The promise is obvious to Jim Taylor, executive director of the Downtown Business Association, who called Wednesday’s announcement “a huge step” along a five-year path from concept to work could possibly start this August.

“There’s just absolutely no doubt, it’s just black and white, the benefit will be really, really significant,” said Taylor. “The size of downtown won’t get any bigger, but the tax flowing into the coffers is just going to escalate from here on in.”

The new arena will bring millions of people each year into the downtown core, Taylor said. And while some might balk at the $480-million price tag, Taylor predicts a ten-fold investment in the area in the next five years. New highrises and restaurants in the area suggest it’s already begun.

Others accentuate the perils of the project. Before Wednesday’s vote, Coun. Linda Sloan voiced concerns the development would create a financial burden that could make it difficult to find money for other projects.

“The city seems to be getting all the drawbacks of ownership, and few perks,” Sloan said before voting against the agreement. “Revenue streams, including rent and taxes, are forgone, but capital maintenance is the city’s responsibility.”

The arena debate has been divisive, and some see the potential for both good and ill.

Chris Buyze, president of the Downtown Edmonton Community League, called Wednesday’s vote a positive step that will innervate the Community Revitalization Levy, spurring upgrades to downtown sewers, beautification of Jasper Avenue and added vibrancy downtown. The group has been critical of the Winter Garden, a $57-million pedestrian bridge favoured by the Katz Group. But Buyze thinks the city can also create a well-connected district through urban design features, such as lane reductions on 104th Avenue to encourage connections to the district.

“The devil’s in the details and you can make or break the success of a project based on some of those design components,” Buyze said. “We’re really pushing for high quality, high level consideration of the urban design characteristics, especially at street level.”

Allan Bolstad of the Federation of Community Leagues is keen to see more detail on the community benefits agreement for the surrounding neighbourhoods, which were promised in the original arena deal. The city’s commitment to a $21-million public rink is a good signal, Bolstad said, adding there are still lots of questions about the impact of increased traffic, parking problems, and thousands of people leaving the building late at night.

The FCL also wants a committee struck to make sure communities and non-profit agencies – in downtown and the north edge of downtown – will have access to the arena building and public spaces like the pedways for community uses.

“Most citizens in those communities will rarely get to an Oilers game” but their communities will absorb serious impacts, Bolstad said.

With files from Gordon Kent and Sheila Pratt

bwittmeier@edmontonjournal.com

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