Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier is introducing a motion at next week's city council meeting that would stop all spending on the Kingsway Entertainment District.
Montpellier, who was acclaimed in his ward ahead of the October municipal election, wants spending to stop on the $100 million project and for staff to prepare a report on why the 2012 city council motion supporting a casino in the city didn't result in a casino operator helping to pay for a new arena.
The 2012 motion said “the City of Greater Sudbury may consider the sale of municipal property for a gaming facility based on the proponent's commitment to develop ancillary and complementary amenities which benefit the Greater Sudbury community.
“These amenities may include, but not be limited to, a hotel, a convention or multi-use centre, a performing arts centre and/or an Ontario Hockey League-ready arena.”
The 2012 motion was required by the former Liberal government for a community to be considered for a full casino. It was passed early in the process, when it was assumed casino chains would compete with each other for the chance to build in Sudbury.
It was also assumed at the time the casino would most likely be built downtown alongside a new Sudbury Arena, and that the casino would need to purchase city land in order to build.
However, opposition to building a casino downtown soon emerged, and protests from Sudbury Downs in Chelmsford led to a recommendation that four areas of the city be considered for the casino: downtown, the South End, the Kingsway and Chelmsford.
Major casino chains visited Sudbury in 2012 to talk with city officials, but then the province – under new Premier Kathleen Wynne – changed the process. In order to ensure companies would also build in smaller, less lucrative markets, the government bundled areas of the province into gaming zones.
So the winning bidder of the Northern gaming zone, for example, had to agree to operate or build casinos in North Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Kenora.
Rather than negotiating with cities, companies worked with the province to win the right to build in entire gaming zones, removing much of the leverage Sudbury had to demand additional amenities.
When Gateway Casinos won the rights to the Northern gaming bundle last year, it announced plans to build a $60 million facility not on city owned land, but alongside the arena on property owned by Dario Zulich and Perry Dellelce on The Kingsway.
Montpellier's motion, which will be dealt with at the Sept. 11 meeting, calls for:
- City staff to produce the report of the OLG proposal containing the amenities as defined in Resolution CC2013-71 of the Feb. 26, 2013, council meeting;
- City staff to produce the resolution altering the preferred four locations as defined in the Aug. 2, 2012, report from the General Manager of Growth and Development;
- City staff to cease spending taxpayers’ dollars on the Kingsway project until a full report is provided explaining how the matter went from a good deal for the taxpayers that would possibly not cost them anything to taxpayers paying for this project; and,
- City staff to provide documentation explaining the difference between the proponent’s offer to build the Kingsway project within the $25 million to $40 million range, as stated in numerous public statements and presentations, whereas the proposed cost to taxpayers would now exceed $100 million.
Read the full motion and the agenda for Sept. 11 here.
