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A divided city council to vote on the KED’s next step on Tuesday

Greater Sudbury city council will vote on whether to approve site preparation work expected to begin Nov. 29
KED-sign1Sized
KED, Kingsway Entertainment District, KED appeals, rezoning Kingsway Entertainment District

Pending the approval of Greater Sudbury city council, the Kingsway Entertainment District project will break ground by Nov. 29.

During Tuesday’s meeting, city council will vote on a resolution to approve staff negotiations to commence site preparation work for the long-talked-about municipal hockey arena and entertainment centre project.

The work is to be undertaken by Oakville-headquartered Bot Engineering & Construction Ltd. which is prepared to mobilize on the site in November. 

This is the same company the city awarded the site preparation contract to in 2018, but work was delayed at the time due to legal appeals.

In 2018, their bid was the lowest of seven received, at approximately $8.5 million excluding HST. 

Due to time passed and the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on labour, equipment, and material costs, an increase in the contract is being negotiated, according to a report by engineering services director David Shelsted that council will consider on Tuesday. 

The revised contract total will be approximately $9.4 million, which Shelsted noted is still lower than the second-lowest bid received in 2018.

This cost will be bolstered by the city’s retention of an engineering consultant to provide contract administration and inspection services, at a cost of approximately $330,000. The city is currently negotiating with J.L. Richards & Associates Ltd., which is headquartered in Ottawa and has offices in Greater Sudbury. 

The total site preparation cost of $9.73 million will be split as per the cost-sharing agreement between the project’s key partners. The city will commit $5.9 million, Gateway Casinos & Entertainment will spend $2.2 million, the hotel share is $1.1 million and the developer share is $530,000. 

The city’s share is the greatest in this initial state due in large part to the fact they are responsible for the $5.6-million event centre parking area. 

In a recent Facebook post by Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier, the lack of identified hotel is cited as a major concern and the councillor has refused to call the project the Kingsway Entertainment District and is instead referring to the project as a “standalone hockey arena at the city’s outskirts.”

In this same Facebook post, Montpellier alleged that he was offered a bribe to support the project’s location in 2017 -- an allegation city council recently voted to have investigated by Greater Sudbury Police Service. 

However, neither this nor an ongoing legal challenge by the Minnow Lake Restoration Group appears to be delaying the project, and Shelsted’s report notes that the project’s partners (city, Gateway and the developer) have resumed meeting on a biweekly basis and that all parties have agreed to the contents of the report being presented to city council on Tuesday.

Although city council is very much divided on the KED, the project appears to have retained the confidence of enough of the city’s elected officials to proceed as planned.

Tuesday’s decision will be followed “in the next few weeks with a process to select a venue manager/operator so that this company can be in place to participate in the design-build RFP process as it begins early in 2022,” according to Shelsted’s report.

The plan is still to have a facility celebrate its grand opening in 2024.

In addition to the decision on a site preparation contract on Tuesday, city council will later vote on a venue operator and a final budget based on the results of a design/build request for proposals.

Tuesday’s city council meeting will be live-streamed beginning at 6 p.m. at greatersudbury.ca.

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Tyler Clarke

About the Author: Tyler Clarke

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
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