After more than one hundred Edmontonians gathered at City Hall to share their concerns on the proposed downtown arena Tuesday, council spent much of Wednesday combing through the details of the project, but by mid-afternoon most of council voted to approve the deal.
One major point addressed by council Wednesday was the Katz Group's plan to pay it's $100 million contribution over thirty-five years.
It sparked much debate in chambers, with some councillors questioning the plan should the Katz Group walk away from the deal before the 35 years is up.
"Our security on this is that as people go through the door to all the events over thirty-five years, they will pay a ticket tax that the city is able to levy," City Manager Simon Farbrother said.
CTV News has learned if Katz walked away, the city would take over all revenue associated with the facility.
Before councillors took a break before noon, Councillor Tony Caterina tabled a motion containing 17 points.
Many of the points in Caterina's motion had already been covered in previous discussions on the deal.
However, in the motion Caterina requested the Katz Group pay its $100 million contribution to the project up front before ground is broken on the project, and cover half of the costs for an LRT connection to the new arena.
After councillors returned from the break, a series of amendments were introduced to the original amendments tabled by Caterina.
Some of the changes included allocated a ticket tax added to tickets at Northlands will be used to fund infrastructure related to Northlands facilities, such as the LRT.
Just over an hour after council re-convened in chambers, the framework was approved by a vote of ten to three.
City Councillors Kerry Diotte, Don Iveson and Linda Sloan voted against the deal.
On his blog, Iveson explained his reasons for voting against the deal.
Councillor Iveson said he supports the downtown arena project, but feels the terms could be better.
"I think the responsible thing to do is continue to work toward improving the funding and financing terms," Iveson wrote.
Iveson also said the arena could be a "bonus", but he worries that in the future the arena would be seen as the building that "singlehandedly transformed downtown" – when he said businesses and Edmontonians are already making a positive impact on the area.
The full text of Iveson's explanation can be found here.
The future of this arena deal is now in the hands of the Katz Group, who still need to approve the amended terms.
That approval could come as soon as Monday.
