Survey respondents want concert venue, better parking at Evraz Place

If you’ve tried leaving Evraz Place after a Regina Pats game or watching the Saskatchewan Roughriders play, there’s one thing you’ve probably experienced first-hand — slowly crawling out of the parking lot, one car at a time.

It’s one of the main issues respondents reported in feedback given to Evraz Place; the municipal corporation received the feedback results on Wednesday as part of its strategic planning for 2020 through 2029.

More than 6,170 people gave feedback, either through an online survey, in person, via focus groups or on social media.

In a PDF file that summarizes the feedback, Evraz reports “the two most frequently mentioned suggestions are to add a concert venue and address parking/exit wait times from Evraz Place.”

They’re the top two ideas among 26 suggestions for adding more value to Evraz Place. The next-highest suggestion is upgrading, improving and updating the site.

Among the respondents, 89 per cent said that Evraz Place is very important or somewhat important to them personally; 79 per cent said it’s very important to the city.

As for what the site should be used for in the future, 73 per cent said it should be for recreational sports, concerts/entertainment events or ticketed sporting events.

Other trends from the feedback include: “youth (age 19 and under) are more likely to say recreational sports, agricultural events and food & beverage experiences should be the main purpose” of the site; those “with higher household incomes (higher than $75,000) are more likely to see Evraz Place as a recreational sporting hub”; and “young adults (ages 20-29) are more likely to say concerts/entertainment events should be the main future purpose.”

Those who live in the area surrounding Evraz Place “have stronger beliefs than other respondents that public market and agricultural space is important (e.g. community garden, farmers’ market, etc.),” the PDF file said.

The full file can be read and downloaded here.