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

Regina city council voted on Wednesday to ask for federal and provincial funding to redevelop the former site of Taylor Field in a major step toward building residential housing there.

In a unanimous decision, council voted to apply for funds from the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF) to support the Taylor Field Redevelopment project.

"We told our people that when Taylor Field was knocked down, we would build affordable housing," said Ward 2 Coun. George Tsiklis before the vote on Wednesday. "That was more than eight years ago.

"I think it's really important that we follow through on our promises. Otherwise, don't make them."

The move comes after years of controversy over the future of the land, which sits adjacent to Mosaic Stadium. After the old football stadium on the site was demolished in 2017, the notion of turning the 46-acre field into housing, especially affordable housing, was talked about for years without concrete action. 

The estimated cost of the redevelopment project is $20.9 million. The money would be spent on waste and stormwater infrastructure, roads and green space development. The development on top of that infrastructure, with its expected allocation of affordable housing, would be a separate project that has yet to be finalized. 

According to the City of Regina, approximately $10.5 million is eligible for funding through the CHIF's provincial-territorial stream. The federal government would provide around $5.7 million and the provincial government would fund $4.8 million.

The rest of the money would be covered by the city, with $3.8 million provided by the land development fund and the remaining $6.5 million covered in the next municipal budget.

Mayor Chad Bachynski hailed the vote as a major step torward finally developing the area, saying the lack of basic city infrastructure had been a barrier to residential development. 

"Councillor Tsiklis, I think, laid out everybody's feelings," he said. "It's been a long time coming."

The exact makeup of the residential development hasn't been formalized, but Bachynski was clear that affordable housing would be a priority. He was also confident that even if the city didn't receive the funding it was looking for with this application, that focus would not be compromised. 

"We know what the goal is. We want to get housing built and if we need to pivot, we will," he said.

Andrew Stevens, a former city councillor who represented North Central and other parts of downtown Regina from 2016 to 2024, said he is glad the project is happening.

"This would be a true catalyst project in the most human sense of it, in which you're building places that people want to live and they can afford to live," he said of a new neighbourhood at the Taylor Field site, which sits on the southern end of North Central. "You would invite different income groups to North Central and try to populate what has become a depopulated set of communities.

But Stevens said he is also wary of how complex the affordable housing issue in that neighbourhood has become.

"Let's be perfectly honest, in some parts of North Central, we're demolishing almost entire blocks of housing. We know that there's a massive vacancy in the affordable housing inventory owned by the province. So simply building new houses while you're demolishing them just a few blocks north by itself is not going to solve a set of problems."

For Stevens, the solution should still come from the province, which he says has not lived up to its mandate with the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation.

"This has to be seen as part of a broader inner city revitalization initiative of which the provincial government has to play a leading role. They're currently not," he said.

City administration has been directed to submit its application with the CHIF by its May 20 deadline.