There was plenty of passion and people Monday night at city hall, as the planning committee heard input from the public on plans for the new arena events centre and the casino on the Kingsway.
Many speakers took the opportunity to speak twice, voicing their opposition to moving the arena out of downtown, and to plans to build a full gaming facility beside it.
City planner Alex Singbush told the crowded city council chamber that these were the first of two public hearings on the project. A vote on whether to rezone the arena and amend the Official Plan to permit the casino will be held at a separate hearing in the next month or two.
Singbush said the arena, subject of the first public hearing, has passed through the environmental requirements, doesn't endanger species at risk and a traffic impact study has been completed.
A private arena is already permitted on the land, he said, so the rezoning is relatively minor and an Official Plan amendment is not required.
“So this meeting is geared primarily to get public input,” Singbush said.
A couple of dozen speakers – with one exception – opposed the arena, with one calling for a referendum on the issue in the October municipal election.
Lily Noble, speaking for the Ramsey Lake Stewardship Committee, said the entire property is around 47 acres, and “most of it is parking lot.”
Each time there's a major snowstorm, she said “500 pounds of salt” will be dropped on the parking lot – salt that will find its way into Ramsey Lake, where 60,000 residents draw their drinking water.
“You can't stop salt,” Noble said. “It is very soluble and flows downstream. (So) I don't see this as a healthy thing for Ramsey Lake.”
Elaine Porter agreed, saying a city with a good reputation for regreening shouldn't be taking a step backward.
“Consider the lake and the water,” Porter said. “The best practice is prevention.”
Downtown BIA chair Jeff MacIntyre questioned why the city was creating a new development zone on the Kingsway, along with the infrastructure required to service it, when existing zones such as downtown still have need of development.
By further diluting development, it makes everything more costly for everyone in Greater Sudbury, MacIntyre said.
“We are damaging the property values of existing areas,” he said. “Not just downtown, but across the city.”
Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti, the most vocal opponent of the Kingsway Entertainment District on city council, made a similar argument, questioning why council is creating a new area that will cost money to service, instead of building in existing commercial areas.
“This is urban sprawl, not in-filling,” Signoretti said.
On the second hearing, Singbush said plans calls for the casino to be built on a 17-acre site. Gateway casinos wants a 55-foot high building, when current maximum is 40 feet, so the developer needs both a rezoning and an Official Plan amendment
Dr. Christopher Duncanson-Hales, the first speaker, said he was opposed to the casino because of the increase in traffic it will bring, and will hurt local neighbourhoods.
“We need to do a full health impact study of expanded gambling,” Duncanson-Hales said.
John Caruso, who is one of the people behind plans to build a convention centre downtown, said casinos not built on the border with the United States never have a positive impact on the communities that host them. He encouraged councillors to talk with communities that have them and see if they are having a positive impact.
“Go to Thunder Bay -- learn what happened there,” Caruso said. “It's economic wasteland.”
MacIntyre, one of several speakers to address both issues, said the province is building casinos in more cities not because they are economic drivers, but to get money out of local gamblers.
“People don't want to travel to go to a casino,” MacIntyre said, so the province is bringing casinos to them to get the revenue.
