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Letter: Dumpside KED project does not align with Official Plan priorities

John Closs says it’s ‘a bad investment in the future of our community’
landfill
The KED project is close to the Greater Sudbury landfill site, something to which letter-write John Closs takes exception. (File)

I have read about our city council’s debates on the plans for our community arena with increasing frustration. 

A slim majority of council and the mayor seem determined to build a new arena on The Kingsway despite the opposition to the project. 

I thought pouring public money into an attempt to develop a new city centre was a terrible idea when it was first proposed, and nothing that I have read or heard since has changed my original opinion.

When I presented my objections to the rezoning of the property on The Kingsway to the Planning Committee, I asserted that the proposal to rezone the property did not respect, honour, align with, or connect to the planning principles and priorities in the city’s Official Plan. 

It’s a document that I value, and that represents years of work by people who believe in this city.

One statement from the project’s supporting documents was particularly astounding. The proposal stated that less than five per cent of the patrons and workers travelling to the site would use public transportation. 

In addition, there was no mention of any other forms of sustainable transportation, such as walking, rolling, pub crawling, canoeing, snowshoeing, dancing on the pedals, or tripping the light fantastic. 

Probably because the site is kilometres away from any population centre, and next to the city’s large, malodorous garbage dump.

Safe, reliable, efficient public transit and sustainable transportation options are patterns that support a liveable, dynamic, sustainable, attractive city. A project that is so completely opposed to the interests of our city should not proceed.

I am amazed that the city council is unable or unwilling to recognize that the proposed Kingsway project is a bad investment in the future of our community.  

John Closs

Sudbury