Edmonton looks at private funding for help building new libraries, arenas

Arenas, libraries, fire halls, and transit hubs have all been built with public money on public land in Edmonton.

But in the future, private dollars could be in play for some new or upgraded facilities as the city’s pool of money available for big projects shrinks.

“In order to do everything that we want to do, we may need to look at creative solutions,” said Mayor Andrew Knack.

How the city could share the cost of some new projects was on council’s agenda Tuesday, with a wishlist of projects that may be a good fit.

Upgrading a busy library in central Edmonton’s Woodcroft neighbourhood is one of the city administrators’ suggestions, saying the city could look for private funding to help rebuild the library, plus, perhaps, something else as well on public land.

This kind of agreement is not unprecedented. Rogers Place, Kinsman Sports Centre, a playground in Clareview, the Valley Line LRT, and, most recently, the fan park were all built with both private and public funding, but not without controversy.

Mayor Knack acknowledged concerns about delays and value for money with some past P3 projects, but he is open to the potential.

“There has always got to be caution when you’re looking at P3s. There have been a lot of concerns with them over the years. And there’s been some, maybe a couple good examples, and some not so good examples,” said Knack.

The mayor thinks building private housing on top of a public library is one way something like this could work and benefit Edmontonians.

With files from Lauren Boothby