An eagerly awaited report on the Sudbury Community Arena’s renewal/replacement options is set to be tabled by city administrators for city council consideration by July 11.
The report’s release date is one day shy of the one-year anniversary of city council voting to effectively kill the Kingsway Entertainment District, a proposed arena/events centre slated to replace the downtown arena.
City council requested the report on Sept. 13, 2022, during a meeting in which a number of motions were passed to wind down work on the KED.
In their motion of the day, city council asked city staff to produce a report “to update the building condition assessment and operational effectiveness analysis of the Sudbury Community Arena and provide a high-level summary of options for its replacement or renovation, including comparisons of facility size, amenities, and business approach with event centres in other Canadian Hockey League communities.”
During his quarterly update to city council members at Tuesday’s finance and administration committee meeting, city CAO Ed Archer’s report noted a document titled “Event Centre & Downtown Development Options,” will be tabled on July 11.
Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc took umbrage with the report’s wording, arguing that city council did not stipulate a downtown-specific location for a new events centre project.
“The direction we had was to make an assessment of the existing arena and the potential for making retrofits that would make it reflect the contemporary needs of the events centre that has been anticipated in previous discussions of council,” Archer responded.
“In the context of evaluating that, compare it to the potential for a new event centre construction.”
In conversation with Sudbury.com after the meeting, Leduc said he hopes the July 11 report doesn’t focus solely on downtown.
“The previous council asked for a report to come back for options, and doesn't just focus on downtown, but throughout the community for the events centre,” he said. “That’s the motion that we passed.”
Downtown locations “could be cost-prohibitive to put a brand-new events centre,” he said, adding the location on The Kingsway is still his ideal choice.
The tide appears to have been shifting toward a downtown arena/events centre project in recent months, with Mayor Paul Lefebvre telling Sudbury.com, “It should be downtown, and the cost is whatever funding we have available that we set aside.”
The city currently has $84.8 million remaining of the $90 million in funds earmarked for an events centre project, which they borrowed at a record-low interest rate of 2.416 per cent,
Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti, Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier and Ward 7 Natalie Labbée have all expressed support for downtown projects, though many members of city council have noted they are waiting on the July 11 report until making any firm commitments.
Formerly an ardent advocate for a new arena/events centre to be located on a property on The Kingsway he owns, developer and Sudbury Wolves/Sudbury Five owner Dario Zulich has pledged to push hard for a downtown project. That is, as long as it’s a new build.
Meanwhile, the Sudbury Community Arena, built in 1951, is reportedly holding up well, despite needing millions of dollars in renovations to continue its status-quo operations.
On July 11, the city is also expected to release a Junction East options report, which follows through on a successful motion by Lefebvre on Feb. 21 for the city to investigate an alternative Junction East Cultural Hub (library/art gallery) project which pares its cost down to $65 million from the previously planned $98.5 million.
Following Lefebvre’s motion, the report on Junction East is to analyze alternative approaches that fulfill the project’s original goals, but to:
- Reconfigure existing high-value infrastructure and community-owned buildings in downtown Sudbury to create effective shared spaces or partnerships that will result in sustainable, efficient operations over the long term.
- Redesign the Junction East Cultural Hub to reflect total project cost of approximately $65 million and continues to reflect the desired outcome of a project that will be an enduring source of community pride.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
