As Sudbury's city council gets ready to hold a series of hearings on a re-zoning application for the future events centre and casino on the Kingsway, an opposition group says it now has fuel for an appeal to the province to block it.
They say they have expert opinions to back up the argument that the new development would do more harm than good.
"It's basically transferring jobs and income from one part of the city to the other. We just see no benefit." said Tom Fortin of the group “Casino-Free Sudbury.”
The group that lost the battle to have the new arena located downtown is also part of this new report.
"The Kingsway event centre location is the worst possible location for every part of our Greater Sudbury." said Jeff MacIntyre of the downtown Sudbury BIA.
The group says big promises of the Kingsway site like; jobs, growth, tourism and tax revenue, have been exaggerated, even fabricated. The group commissioned a 60-thousand dollar report by “Urban Metrics,” a market research firm it claims is an expert on casino economics.
It concludes that the Kingsway entertainment district would:
- Re-direct business away from other parts of the city…
- Jeopardize *transformational* projects like a new library, art gallery and convention centre.
- Would not significantly affect tourism or jobs, and would not be a significant source of revenues to city coffers.
"To sit here and watch, you know, the heart of the downtown be pulled away and, you know, thrown 15 kilometres away in the middle of nowhere next to a dump, it just doesn't make sense and I can't in good conscience sit back and do nothing." said downtown advocate Andre Dumais.
As for the casino company, it says it finds nothing new in the latest report.
"Sudbury has enjoyed casino gambling for almost 20 years under Ontario Lottery and Gaming. Gateway intends to build a brand new state of the art facility, creating new jobs with a $60 Million investment to complement a new sports and events centre in the burgeoning Kingsway Entertainment District.” said Rob Mitchell of Gateway Casinos.