An article about Central Library appeared on page 1 of the Regina Leader Post today.
Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/news/word+fate+Regina+Central+Library/8275212/story.html#ixzz2RCyAf98p
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FRPL will be sending one or two representatives to the meeting. Please take the opportunity to review the material and send comments to FRPL via our Contact page.
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: designregina <designregina@regina.ca> Date: Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 9:32 AM
The City of Regina continues moving forward with Design Regina to develop the city’s Official Community Plan (OCP). The OCP will guide the City as it makes choices about how to manage and pay for change and growth and how to provide and manage services to our community.
As a stakeholder representing an organization or group within Regina’s community, you are invited to participate in a workshop. You will be provided with an update on the OCP, and more importantly, an opportunity to discuss:
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The Regina Public Library is currently conducting a survey about library services and trying to gauge support for the amenities that they would like to see connected to an upgraded Central Library.
Apparently it is quite a long survey, one person interviewed said there were questions like :
The City of Regina will be holding a public meeting abut its Cultural Plan on April 23,6:30 to 8:00 pm at the Conexus Arts Centre.
This will be a good opportunity to strengthen Regina’s cultural activities – including the libraries. Please attend and share your views.
The plan includes both cultural activities and built heritage (buildings, parks, etc.) The objectives of the plan can be seen in advance ot the meeting at http://www.designregina.ca/cultural-plan/ This is a word document of the webpage contents, City of Regina Cultural Plan – notes from City website but there are many related reports on the website – a lot of work has been done.
If you cannot attend in person, presumably comments can also be sent to culturalplan@regina.ca
From: City of Regina, CulturalPlan, : Monday, April 15, 2013 4:00 PM
Tuesday, April 23 from 6:30-8:00 p.m., Conexus Arts Centre, 200 Lakeshore Drive, Regina.
Information developed for the Cultural Plan and Heritage Management Strategy will also be used for portions of Regina’s new Official Community Plan.
More details about the Cultural Plan can be found at this website: www.designregina.ca
The article noted below highlights that the cities aren’t necessarily keen on getting the federal P3 Canada funding because of the implications of the loss of control and higher amounts for interest. This reluctance was expressed by some City of Regina councilors when the potential PPP funding for Central Library and for the wastewater treatment plan were discussed. The councilors were not necessarily totally enthusiastic about the funding but felt that they would be seen as negligent and irresponsible by Regina taxpayers if the Library Board/City didn’t apply for the funding.
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It is still very possible that the RPL Board will apply to this fund, soon or in the future.
———From the P3 Canada Fund <Info@p3canada.ca>, April 15, 2013——–
PPP CANADA LAUNCHES ROUND FIVE OF THE P3 CANADA FUND
Round Five to focus on projects that develop the Canadian P3 market
Ottawa, Ontario, April 15, 2013 – Today, PPP Canada launched the Round Five call for proposals for the P3 Canada Fund.
Canada has become a world leader in P3 procurement and the Government of Canada is committed to supporting the further development of the Canadian P3 market by encouraging provinces, territories, First Nations and municipalities to consider the P3 model in delivering their public infrastructure priorities. As part of this commitment, PPP Canada’s focus in Round Five will be on public infrastructure projects that promote jobs and stimulate economic growth.
“Last year, we were very encouraged by the quality and viability of the applications we received,” said John McBride, CEO of PPP Canada. “Under Round Five, we will continue to look for applications that deliver optimal Value for Money by demonstrating substantial involvement by the private sector throughout the project’s life cycle.”
Once again, PPP Canada will give priority to public infrastructure projects in the following priority areas: transportation; water/wastewater; solid waste disposal; and brownfield redevelopment of contaminated sites. In addition, PPP Canada will give priority to projects that create optimal Value for Money, taking into account the qualitative and quantitative factors, and that include long-term financing (i.e. DBFOM).
To date, the Government of Canada has announced P3 Canada Fund commitments toward 15 P3 projects across Canada, totaling over $715 million to projects with more than $3.2 billion in capital costs. Further announcements are expected in the coming months.
PPP Canada works with other levels of government to promote the effective use of P3s through P3 knowledge sharing, capacity building and the strategic use of the P3 Canada Fund. By offering advice and expertise to its clients, PPP Canada ensures proper due diligence is followed across all stages of the project development life cycle. The result is a well-structured procurement that is well planned and follows best practices ensuring transparency, fairness and competiveness.
About PPP Canada and the P3 Canada Fund
PPP Canada has a mandate to improve and increase the delivery of public infrastructure by achieving better value, timeliness and accountability to taxpayers, through P3s.
PPP Canada acts as a leading source on P3 matters through knowledge development and sharing. In addition, the Corporation provides expertise and advice in assessing and executing P3 opportunities at the federal level as well as leveraging greater Value for Money from federal investments in provincial, territorial, municipal and First Nations infrastructure through the P3 Canada Fund.
The P3 Canada Fund is a merit based program, designed to incent the use of P3 procurement in delivering public infrastructure projects. Eligible projects can receive up to 25% of the direct cost of construction supported through non-repayable contributions, repayable contributions, loans or loan guarantees. The $1.2 billion is committed over a 5 year period starting 2009/10 and is allocated to PPP Canada on an annual basis, subject to approval by Parliament. The Government of Canada recently announced in Budget 2013 its commitment to renew the P3 Canada Fund by an additional $1.25 billion beginning in 2014.
Round Five: Information for Applicants
To assist Round Five applicants in preparing their submissions to the P3 Canada Fund, PPP Canada has developed an Application Guide which provides detailed information of the Fund’s eligibility criteria and evaluation process and detailed instructions on how to prepare a submission. In addition, PPP Canada has created a P3 Business Case Development Guide which outlines the necessary steps to the development of a comprehensive and robust P3 business case. Project sponsors whose applications are retained for further analysis will be required to follow this Guide in preparing their Business Case for submission. Both Guides are available for download on PPP Canada’s website at www.p3canada.ca.
The application deadline is June 14, 2013 in order to be considered under Round Five. All interested applicants are encouraged to contact PPP Canada or their designated contact, identified in the Application Guide, to discuss the viability of their project before submitting an application.
PPP Canada, Attn: P3 Canada Fund, Round Five, 100 Queen Street, Suite 630, Ottawa, ON, K1P 1J9, 1-877-947-9480, pppadministration@p3canada.ca
For further information on PPP Canada and the Government of Canada P3 Canada Fund investments visit: www.p3canada.ca
For media inquiries, contact:media@p3canada.ca or 613-947-9480/1-877-947-9480
The attached is the response received on April 4, 2013 by FRPL to the questions raised concerning Central Library at the March 26, 2013 RPL Board meeting. Response to FRPL 20130405
Note that:
– it appears that RPL already has a city-wide (telephone?) survey underway
– an on-line survey is forthcoming
– once there is a plan for Central (which means the plan is already formulated) there will be a series of public meetings or information sessions
– these will likely occur in “late spring” (May or June?)
– a single print copy of the reports related to Central will be made available. If there are enough requests for the reports they will print additional copies
– they say “it is imposible to say” if they will be applying again to the P3 Canada fund (interpretation:they are still thinking of applying)
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NEWS RELEASE: Monday March 25, 2013
REGINA, SK — The Friends of the Regina Public Library (FRPL) are calling for a design for Central Library that is based on renovations and additions, rather than demolishing the current building.
After many months of requesting that material be made public, the Friends’ efforts were successful when the RPL Board gradually released documents related to the Central Library between October 25, 2012 and February 14, 2013. “Some of this material is more than two years old, and we don’t understand why it couldn’t have been released earlier,” said Joanne Havelock of FRPL. “However, we are glad to have it available to the public now.”
“We appreciate that considerable effort has been put into the planning documents and although the original design that came out in 2011 will not be implemented, many of the concepts will be carried forward into the next design,” said Havelock. “There are both interesting and controversial ideas in the Development Plan and the public needs time to review and understand these options.”
FRPL is asking that print copies be made available at each of the library branches.
On Sunday February 24, 2013 FRPL held a public meeting to draw attention to those reports and encourage people to examine their contents. Some key questions came forward at this meeting.
The Library Board had said that it would be holding consultations in March, 2013, but this has not occurred. FRPL would like to know when the consultations will occur and what kind of consultation process will be used. In addition to proposed phone and on-line surveys, will there be a single public meeting or a series of meetings? How will participants be able to share their views?
Participants were surprised that the Development Plan did not include an option for renovation and/or expansion of the current Central Library Building. A survey conducted by FRPL found that Regina residents were quite concerned that the building could be demolished. FRPL is asking the RPL Board to request that the architects prepare a design for renovation and expansion of the current Central Library building. From the Building Assessment report this is not only possible, but more cost-effective and would preserve the heritage of the current modern
FRPL would also like to RPL Board to clarify whether it will be submitting a new proposal to the P3 Canada Fund and whether this would be done for the June 30, 2013 deadline. The FRPL survey found that residents felt that the library building should remain publicly-owned.
FRPL will be making a presentation to the Library Board at 4:30 pm on Tuesday March 26, 2013 at the RPL Boardroom, second floor of Central Library.
Presentation to RPL Board, March 26, 2013 FRPL to RPL Board re March 26, 2013 mtg – final
NEWS RELEASE: Monday March 18, 2013 “Residents Want Library Building to Stay”
REGINA, SK — The Friends of the Regina Public Library (FRPL) are releasing the results of a survey taken to gain opinions about potential upgrading of Central Library. The survey found that:
Reminder to attend the City Council meeting and show your interest in library services.
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