Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Court costs and Kingsway hearings top of mind as council receives large projects update:
On an evening where city council got an in depth look at a proposed downtown arena renovation, they were also provided an update on a number of the other large municipal projects currently under development. Ian Wood, the city's executive director of strategic initiatives, communications and citizen services presented a large projects update on Oct. 6, briefing the mayor and council on the status of the Kingsway Entertainment District, Place des Arts and the Junction East and West. With groundbreaking on the KED nowhere in sight, Wood's update focused on the legal proceedings that are expected to stretch well into 2021. Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti raised the question of how long could court proceedings take in a worst-case scenario. "We've always heard best-case scenarios with timelines, so my question is what's the worst case scenario and I'm talking about the timeline," said Signoretti. "My understanding is with an appeal to Superior Court and with the LPAT decision still out there, worst-case scenario is realistically another 18 to 24 months." Deputy city solicitor Kelly Gravelle said the court of appeals process could take upwards of six months. More on this story can be found here.
Group behind proposed $40M downtown development say parking is a roadblock:
Plans for a $40-million transformation of the old Ledo Hotel in downtown Sudbury was released earlier this week by private sector group, Le Ledo Inc. The plans have been in the works for close to a year now and will reimagine the entire property with a 150,000-square-foot commercial development in Sudbury’s south section of the Junction district with a combination of existing uses and others allowable within the C-6 commercial zoning. "The Ledo site has been for sale for some time and essentially it came about once the decision was made more formally around the library and art gallery project moving forward on Shaughnessy Street around this time last year," said Chris Tammi, a Sudbury real estate broker and Le Ledo spokesperson. "We saw the area and there's some underperforming properties, including the Ledo property, that are in need of some love and some investment. With the city committing to pony up $50 - $60 million to build the library, art gallery, we saw an opportunity for some uplift in the neighbourhood." Tammi said that the property where the Ledo sits offers the biggest development opportunity in the area, due to the large lot on which the Ledo sits. He wouldn’t disclose who exactly is behind Le Ledo Inc. or who is involved with the partnership, but did say the city is not a funded partner. Get the full story here.
Three COVID-19 hotspots being moved back to a 'modified stage two' of reopening:
Ontario's top health officials have indicated that a trio of the province's COVID-19 hot spots will move back to a modified stage two of reopening. Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health; Dr. Dirk Huyer, Chief Coroner for Ontario and Coordinator of the Provincial Outbreak Response; and Adalsteinn (Steini) Brown, Dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, held a media briefing on COVID-19. The province recorded a record-high number of COVID-19 cases on Oct. 9, with 939 new cases reported Friday. Officials urged that people across Ontario stay home except for essential purposes, while announcing that Toronto, Peel and Ottawa will return to a modified stage two reopening as of 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 10. In the three regions impacted by the measures, restaurants will no longer be open for indoor dining, gyms and fitness centres will be closed, casinos and bingo halls will be closed, as will movie theatres. Schools will remain open as will daycare centres, but wedding receptions will be banned in the three regions as of Oct. 13. Gathering limits will be capped at 24 for outdoor events and 10 indoors. More on this story here.
939 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Ontario Friday:
Public Health Ontario confirmed 939 new cases of COVID-19 in the province Friday. On Thursday the province's public health agency reported nearly 800 cases, which was the highest ever reported in a single day until OCt. 9. There are five more deaths confirmed by the province including four people over the age of 80 years old and one person between 60 and 79 years old. Fifty-five per cent of the 939 cases reported Friday are individuals under the age of 40. Included in Friday's report are 339 cases from Toronto, 150 from Peel and 126 from Ottawa. There have been 33 more people hospitalized since yesterday's report, and nine patients have been admitted to intensive care units.
Sudbury long-term care facility says COVID-19 outbreak would mean mask shortage:
When it comes to providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to its front line medical workers, St. Joseph's Health Centre of Sudbury is in good shape right now. But if there is an outbreak of COVID-19 — meaning two or more active cases — then there is a significant worry there is not enough N95 masks in the emergency pandemic supply. The N95 mask, also known as a respirator, is considered the gold standard by being able to filter out 95 per cent of hazardous particles and airborne aerosols. The shortage issue was raised recently by Nickel Belt MPP and NDP health critic France Gélinas. She stood in the legislature to complain that not enough was being done by the Ministry of Health to ensure that N95 masks were getting distributed to the four care health-care operations run by St. Joseph, which includes the long-term care homes St. Joseph’s Villa and Villa St. Gabriel. Find more on this story here.
LU’s financial crunch stems from building spree in recent years, faculty rep argues:
Laurentian University says it has hired external financial advisors Ernst & Young to assist in a review of its finances in light of a $7 million structural deficit, as well as the $5 to 10 million impact of the pandemic to date. The university put out a brief press release Thursday about the hiring of the financial advisors. We asked for an interview with Laurentian administration to get more information, but the university declined our request. They did release an additional, very succinct, email statement. “Laurentian has been transparent that we are facing some financial challenges, some historic and some brought on by COVID-19,” said the email statement. “We have retained Ernst & Young, as advisors, to assist us in a further review of our financial results, budgets and various initiatives to help us identify and analyse additional opportunities for cost savings or improvements.” The university’s press release said it has worked hard to address the financial challenges brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic and its pre-existing structural deficit. This past spring, Laurentian announced it was expecting a $6 million deficit for 2019-2020, and said its shortfall could rise to $15 million potentially by the end of 2020-2021, due to the pandemic and provincial cuts. Get the full story here.
