District Brewing Co. opposes direction of Regina revitalization projects

For many Regina residents, the idea of a new aquatics centre or a brand-new baseball stadium is a positive one, but for some, it comes at the expense of more important issues.

A local brewing company is urging the city to instead focus on initiatives such as homelessness and accessible public transportation.

The statement from District Brewing Co. comes on the heels of the Regina Catalyst Committee looking to revitalize Regina’s city centre and warehouse district.

“We have such an opportunity from an inner-city investment perspective over the next number of years for revitalizing and actually driving more people into these facilities, both from outside the city and inside the city,” said Regina Mayor Sandra Masters on Global Regina’s morning show.

Members of the District Brewing Company feel otherwise.

“District Brewing is excited about the outcomes of the Catalyst Committee’s goals,” the company said in a statement. “A revitalized city centre and Warehouse District will be beneficial to us as a business and as individual citizens. We disagree with the steps the Catalyst Committee is taking to achieve those goals.”

They said the Catalyst Committee initiatives will be beneficial to individuals, rather than the community as a whole.

“We want everyone to thrive, we want everyone to be taken care of,” said Meghan Trenholm, District Brewing director of marketing.

“We would love to have amazing event spaces and multi-event centres. That would be great, we would love to have our beer there but we don’t know that that needs to happen as quickly as some of these other priorities like eradicating homelessness.”

Among the plans District Brewing is urging the city to complete are the 2011 announcement to redevelop the old Taylor Field neighbourhood and the 2019 five-year plan to end homelessness in the city.

“District Brewing really disagrees with this very rushed process that the Catalyst Committee has engaged in,” Trenholm said. “And it felt like there were not enough community consultations to really satisfy the responsibility to the citizens of the city.”

Meanwhile, Masters said the council is always looking for feedback from community members on projects like this.

“At the end of the day, recommendations are going to come to council for how to prioritize and some ideas around location and financing models,” she explained. “But, you know, the planning for these is going to continue for years to come. Clearly, we’re not building everything at once.”

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