Zoning of the Kingsway Entertainment District to be decided this week

The Kingsway Entertainment District is up for discussion again at Sudbury City Council.

Two planning committee meetings are scheduled this week to deal with zoning of the land.

The public will get a chance to voice opinions on the project, which would see an arena and a casino build on land about 8 kilometres away from the existing downtown area.

The anti-casino group Casino Free Sudbury plans to present findings from a recent report it commissioned.

Rowan Faludi with UrbanMetrics wrote that report.

"Honestly, I think the downtown is going to be in a lot of trouble if it is built," Faludi said.

"I think a lot of the expenditures in Sudbury are going to flow to the Kingsway project at the expense of other parts of the city."

He says the downtown core will be in trouble if the project goes forward.

"I don't think that kind of proposal is really going to benefit the neighbourhood because they're really trying to attract everybody onto that site," he said.

"Whereas the arena in a downtown location will support existing businesses and small businesses in the downtown core that are certainly going to be hurt if the arena leaves downtown."

A planning committee meeting on Monday will focus on rezoning the land for a casino, while a meeting on Tuesday will hear comments on the application to rezone for a public arena and parking lot.

Both meetings will take place a 4:30 p.m. in the council chambers.