With city council support eroding in light of its price tag more than doubling to $215 million, the Kingsway Entertainment District is likely to be struck down at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Of the narrow majority of city council members to support the project thus far, enough have indicated their intention to vote against it next week to effectively strike it down.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me anymore,” Mayor Brian Bigger told Sudbury.com. “I cannot support a total cost of $215 million. … I just can’t support the necessary increase to taxes when we already have a lot of pressure this year with inflation.”
The existing financial pressure in question has already impacted next year’s budget deliberations to the tune of $16.3 million, which city administration has been asked to cut in order to hit a planned tax increase of 3.7 per cent.
Since city council has only budgeted $100 million toward the municipal arena/events centre to date, administration has recommended they place the $115-million shortfall onto debt, whose annual servicing over the next 30 years is projected to cost $7.48 million.
In addition to ongoing concerns related to the tax levy, Bigger said there’s too much sensitivity regarding the city’s existing debt load of approximately $355 million to pile more on.
“My position will be to reassess all of the things that we’re working with,” Bigger said. “It will likely be a decision made by the next council, which I hope to be a part of.”
From what Sudbury.com gathered from city councillors and drew from past votes in relation to the KED, it seems clear the project as currently proposed will not survive Tuesday’s meeting.
On Sept. 28, 2021, a 7-6 vote of city council approved a motion for city administration to negotiate site preparation to commence. The following council members voted in its favour:
Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc, Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann, Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan, Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre, Ward 7 Coun. Mike Jakubo, Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer and Mayor Brian Bigger.
In addition to Bigger, both Kirwan and Leduc have affirmed their intentions to vote against the KED as currently proposed on Tuesday.
“It took me by total surprise,” Leduc said of the $215-million price tag, adding that he’d anticipated it coming in at greater than the $100 million already budgeted, but not by that much.
“It’s disappointing that we’ve gone this far now and the anti-KED group held us up for so many years, and we’re paying the price.”
Legal challenges delayed the project for years, he said, and pushed the project into the era of COVID-19, which brought with it a cost inflation greater than any experienced in recent history.
In addition to investigating the RFP process, Leduc said he’d like to see the project thrown back at city administration with a mandate they stick within a budget of $150 million.
Kirwan offered a similar take as Leduc, and affirmed that while he’s still very much supportive of the project, he can’t vote in favour of a plan costing $215 million.
“If council rejects the recommendations, it will be up to staff to ask the successful RFP proponent to redesign the plans, re-examine their own cost estimates and come back to us with a more acceptable budget proposal and financial plan.”
Jakubo told Sudbury.com that he was “still digesting the price tag of all future development, knowing full well that the cost of any new facility is not substantially going down in the future. This price makes this a difficult decision, but I will be prepared to make that decision Tuesday.”
Those elected officials on the nay side of the vote to proceed with site-preparation work last year included Ward 10 Coun. Fern Cormier, Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti, Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini, Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier and Ward 4 Coun. Geoff McCausland and Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh (who by abstaining from the vote was counted as a nay).
Given they voted against the project at $100 million, it’s unlikely the project’s cost more than doubling to $215 million will persuade them to throw their support behind the project.
“As you know, I have never voted in favour of this project,” Cormier said. “That will certainly not change given the additional impact to the tax levy this would create. Without an identified source of funding to cover the additional cost I do not believe it would be prudent for us to continue pursuing the project.”
McIntosh declined to comment, while McCausland affirmed his growing opposition to the project.
“This is a time of uncertainty, with rising costs already affecting families across Canada, and we have no shortage of roads, pipes and buildings across Greater Sudbury in need of investment,” he said. “I believe that city council needs to focus on outcomes, what we are trying to achieve with an arena investment, and see that there is still an opportunity to pivot and secure what we want and need for both today's events and for future generations.”
McCausland wants to see the city “breathe new life into the old barn” – the Sudbury Community Arena downtown – by going with the Project Now proposal to renovate the 70-year-old building.
“We can add nearly a thousand seats, improve the arena as a performance space for concerts, add modern change rooms and bathrooms, improve accessibility, add restaurants, shops and concession spaces, and improve the loading area for traveling shows, all while staggering the approach so that the Wolves’ season isn’t interrupted,” he said.
This option was proposed in 2020 at a cost of approximately $60 million, which did not include a parking structure estimated to carry a price tag of approximately $35 million.
Leduc said that with the cost of the KED more than doubling to $215 million, why wouldn’t the downtown options, which were originally slated to either cost roughly the same or more, increase by the same rate?
Although the KED as currently proposed is likely to fall at Tuesday’s city council meeting, it remains to be seen what might take its place.
Leduc told Sudbury.com he plans on introducing a motion or amendment to proceed with the project in a different format than presented, while Bigger said it’s a decision best made by whatever incarnation of city council is elected on Oct. 24.
The city’s current debt load includes $90 million already secured and earmarked for the KED, which they secured alongside $110 million for other projects at an interest rate of 2.416 per cent.
“I’m sure that various councillors will come up with various proposals on how to spend that money, but there are still some unresolved topics that our community’s really interested in,” Bigger said, pointing to the beleaguered Laurentian University as an example.
Signoretti, Vagnini, Montpellier, Sizer and Landry-Altmann did not respond to Sudbury.com’s phone and email messages for comment. Lapierre clarified he was unable to comment due to limited cell coverage where he was.
Tuesday’s city council meeting will begin at 2 p.m., at which time members of the public can witness proceedings in-person at Tom Davies Square or view a livestream by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
