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City Council approves funding & loans to Exhibition Park redevelopment

It’s been years in the making, but Lethbridge Exhibition Park now has what it needs financially to start a major redevelopment and expansion.

This week, City Council approved committed funding of $25 million as well as a $17.8 million dollar loan to the Exhibition.

Mayor Chris Spearman says this project is something positive for the community and a way to build relationships with potential investors. He says this project is a way for the community to positive about something and a way to build relationships with potential investors.

“This Exhibition Park Agri-Food Hub and Trade Centre will be a major economic catalyst for Lethbridge,” says Mayor Chris Spearman. “We are thrilled to be moving forward with this project without any additional impact to our taxpayers.”

The Exhibition now plans to enter into the re-zoning and permit processes with tendering for the project early in 2021 and construction starting in the spring.

As part of the new agreement, ownership of the Exhibition Park site is to remain the property of the City of Lethbridge, but the City will grant a site lease to Lethbridge & District Exhibition for the term of 50 years, expiring in 2070. There will also be a chance to extend the lease after that as well.

This financial commitment from the City of Lethbridge comes after the UCP government announced the province was investing $27.8 million into the project.

The province says this project will generate 400 construction jobs and an estimated 50 incremental jobs after completion.

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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