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Coun. Evan Woolley, who represents the area where CalgaryNEXT is proposed, said Monday it’s up to city council as a whole to determine the fate of CalgaryNEXT and that hasn’t yet happened.

“We’ve tasked administration to go and look at a Plan B. That work is ongoing. Ultimately, this decision rests with council,” he said.

Nick Twyman, the past president of the Sunalta Community Association, said Monday he wasn’t surprised Nenshi labelled CalgaryNEXT dead, given the mayor’s less-than-enthusiastic opinions on the new arena and the fact talk about the West Village project has quieted in recent months.

“I wouldn’t call it shocking that he’s saying it’s dead,” Twyman said.

Photo by Aryn Toombs / Calgary Herald

“I can’t remember the last time we had a meeting about this project.”

Twyman said no matter what happens with a potential new arena, the land in his inner-city neighbourhood, where a former wood preserving plant left nearly two million litres of toxic creosote, needs to be cleaned up.

“Whether CalgaryNEXT happens or not, the city has to deal with (the creosote), because it’s really a ticking time bomb,” he said.

Woolley agreed that whether or not CalgaryNEXT moves forward in the West Village, environmental work must take place.

“We have a huge environmental liability and that’s not going away,” he said.

After stating the West Village project was dead, Nenshi went on to tell reporters the substitute arena plan in Victoria Park may qualify for funds under the planned Canada Infrastructure Bank, set to use federal dollars and private-sector funding to finance projects that might not otherwise be built.

“Those transit and road improvements have to stand on their own, they have to be improvements that we would make regardless and that’s one of the reasons why, by the way, that a potential site in Victoria Park makes way more sense than CalgaryNEXT because those infrastructure investments including the Green Line are happening anyway,” Nenshi said Monday morning.

– With files from James Wood, Postmedia