Arena Site Update

June 2019

SAWHA / FWHAS
The Southern Alberta Women’s Hockey Association and the Fairview Women’s Hockey Arena Society continue to work with the City of Calgary on final stages of site remediation and next steps. Back filling, compaction testing, and hydro seeding of the lands directly east of the community building commenced mid-May. We would like to thank everyone that came out in support of our arena used equipment sale. Proceeds will be going to charity.

INDEFINITE ARTS CENTRE
Indefinite Arts Centre continues its advocacy to secure public and private sector support to move its National accessArts Centre project to the next stage—with varying degrees of success to date. Although conversations at the federal and private sector levels have been received very positively, a new provincial government means that the Centre will need to restart its advocacy at this level. The positive thing through all of this is that we have ongoing community interest—across Fairview and throughout the City. The Centre’s CEO JS Ryu has committed to resuming more active community consultations in the Fall of 2019 to ensure that any additions and changes incorporated into pre-permit/engineered drawings will reflect as much of the desires of the community—and the desire of the Centre to create a project that is as much a community amenity as it is a programming space for its participants. Any interim updates can be found primarily through the Centre’s social media channels such as Facebook (search Indefinite Arts Centre).

CITY OF CALGARY
The City believes in working alongside community residents and partners to develop inspiring neighbourhoods. We understand that residents have questions about the 8038 Fairmount Drive site which formerly housed the arena. The scope of engagement for the Fairview Arena site is still being determined. The City is committed to engaging Fairview residents on possibilities that are realistic from a resource, legal and land use perspective which is why this is taking longer than initially anticipated. It is important to note that a City partner still holds responsibility for the arena lands through an active lease and they have not turned back the site to the City. We will provide further updates as soon as details are available.

 

April 2019

The Fairview Arena is a hot topic in the neighbourhood given the City’s recent decision to not rebuild.  The decision is disappointing to many people both in and outside of Fairview.  The decision for the Fairview Community Association to no longer manage and operate the facility was made over a decade ago, but there are many Fairview residents who grew up in the neighbourhood, and are now raising families in the neighbourhood; they have great memories of the facility.  Many long term residents have an important connection to the facility that they fundraised for and volunteered in.  And of course there are lots of hockey families in Fairview.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding their decision, the City has recommended that residents reach out to 311 so we do encourage you to share your thoughts more directly there to ensure your voice is heard by the right people.

 

Now that we know the arena won’t be replaced, there will be some leg work for the City to get ready to engage those who will have important input.  To get ready for those conversations, the City will review information and research already accumulated and create an engagement plan to allow them to gather any additional information needed make the best decision.  Both current leaseholders (Indefinite Arts and SAWHA) have leases that are ongoing, and we look forward to working closely with them as they move forward.  The City believes that by working with community residents and partners, a strong option for use of the site can be developed that will benefit the residents of Fairview and contribute to an exciting and vibrant neighbourhood.  The FCA knows that many of our residents are interested in the opportunity to provide input into use of the space for a wide range of possible purposes.  The FCA is excited to begin the work with the City to engage our residents in the brainstorming and decision-making process in revitalizing the space.

 

The engagement plan outlining how and when the community and partners will be engaged is still under development so those details aren’t yet available. We will move as quickly as possible and opportunities for input and engagement will be broadly communicated as details become available.