Less than a week after billionaire Daryl Katz appeared before city council making his case for a downtown arena, city councillors have submitted more than 140 questions about the project. City administration, Northlands, and the Katz Group will now have to focus their efforts on getting some answers.
Last Wednesday marked the first time the Katz Group stood before council to present details about the widely discussed downtown arena district proposed for Edmonton.
The Katz Group reiterated to councillors that Katz is prepared to put $100 million directly into a new downtown arena, as well as pledging another $100 million to the development of the area.
A municipal government expert believes that city councillors have slowed down the process of the proposed project by asking so many questions.
"There is no focus here when you have 140 questions from 12 people -- that means they don't know what the right questions are," said Jim Lightbody.
Lightbody says council should have met and developed six to 12 focused questions under the leadership of Mayor Stephen Mandel.
It's likely that the answers won't be known until the next election in October.
The Katz Group would not comment on camera Tuesday, but in an e-mail statement, the group tells CTV News it is looking forward to answering all the questions and moving the process forward.
With files from Kevin Armstrong
