Regina city council to apply for federal funding to develop Taylor Field site infrastructure

Chris Edwards · CBC News

· Posted: May 14, 2025 7:48 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Regina metropolis assembly voted connected Wednesday to inquire for national and provincial backing to redevelop the erstwhile tract of Taylor Field successful a large measurement toward building residential lodging there.

In a unanimous decision, assembly voted to use for funds from the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF) to enactment the Taylor Field Redevelopment project.

"We told our radical that erstwhile Taylor Field was knocked down, we would physique affordable housing," said Ward 2 Coun. George Tsiklis earlier the ballot connected Wednesday. "That was much than 8 years ago.

"I deliberation it's truly important that we travel done connected our promises. Otherwise, don't marque them."

The determination comes aft years of contention implicit the aboriginal of the land, which sits adjacent to Mosaic Stadium. After the aged shot stadium connected the tract was demolished successful 2017, the conception of turning the 46-acre tract into housing, particularly affordable housing, was talked astir for years without factual action. 

The estimated outgo of the redevelopment task is $20.9 million. The wealth would beryllium spent connected discarded and stormwater infrastructure, roads and greenish abstraction development. The improvement connected apical of that infrastructure, with its expected allocation of affordable housing, would beryllium a abstracted task that has yet to beryllium finalized. 

According to the City of Regina, astir $10.5 cardinal is eligible for backing done the CHIF's provincial-territorial stream. The national authorities would supply astir $5.7 million and the provincial authorities would money $4.8 million.

The remainder of the wealth would beryllium covered by the city, with $3.8 cardinal provided by the onshore improvement fund and the remaining $6.5 cardinal covered successful the adjacent municipal budget.

Mayor Chad Bachynski hailed the ballot arsenic a large measurement torward yet processing the area, saying the deficiency of basal metropolis infrastructure had been a obstruction to residential development. 

"Councillor Tsiklis, I think, laid retired everybody's feelings," helium said. "It's been a agelong clip coming."

The nonstop constitution of the residential improvement hasn't been formalized, but Bachynski was wide that affordable lodging would beryllium a priority. He was besides assured that adjacent if the metropolis didn't person the backing it was looking for with this application, that absorption would not beryllium compromised. 

"We cognize what the extremity is. We privation to get lodging built and if we request to pivot, we will," helium said.

Andrew Stevens, a erstwhile metropolis councillor who represented North Central and different parts of downtown Regina from 2016 to 2024, said helium is gladsome the task is happening.

"This would beryllium a existent catalyst task successful the astir quality consciousness of it, successful which you're gathering places that radical privation to unrecorded and they tin spend to live," helium said of a caller neighbourhood astatine the Taylor Field site, which sits connected the confederate extremity of North Central. "You would invitation antithetic income groups to North Central and effort to populate what has go a depopulated acceptable of communities.

But Stevens said helium is besides wary of however analyzable the affordable lodging contented successful that neighbourhood has become.

"Let's beryllium perfectly honest, successful immoderate parts of North Central, we're demolishing astir full blocks of housing. We cognize that there's a monolithic vacancy successful the affordable lodging inventory owned by the province. So simply gathering caller houses portion you're demolishing them conscionable a fewer blocks northbound by itself is not going to lick a acceptable of problems."

For Stevens, the solution should inactive travel from the province, which helium says has not lived up to its mandate with the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation.

"This has to beryllium seen arsenic portion of a broader interior metropolis revitalization inaugural of which the provincial authorities has to play a starring role. They're presently not," helium said.

City medication has been directed to taxable its exertion with the CHIF by its May 20 deadline.