Casino and arena rezoning applications at centre of public hearings in Sudbury

Today, the City ofGreater Sudbury will holdthe first of two public hearingson rezoning applications for the Kingsway event centre site.

There are two applications before the city's planning committee one for public arena, and the other, foracasino.

Ward 1 Councillor Mark Signoretti opposes both and he's urging people to speak out against the applications at the hearings.

"I want them to come out and voice their concerns with the fact that we have an official plan, a downtown master plan, and we're going to ignore all of that, and then just basically throw it out the door," Signoretti said.

Ward 5 Councillor Robert Kirwan says the hearings are not an opportunity to rehash an old argument, but to make sure the applications comply with both the official plan and provincial legislation.

Could council reverse its decision?

Kirwan says he's disappointed that there's still a push for council to change its decision on the arena.

"We're not going to change the decision, just because people oppose it," he said.

"We would change our decision if there was a material change, or if there was something wrong with the application."

But Signoretti says there's still a chance to reverse council's decision on the arena and casino.

"Unless shovels are in the ground, I firmly believe that we, as a community, should be speaking loud and clear to our elected officials to inform them that, 'You know what, we didn't get a vote on this'."

He says the Kingsway debate could become an election issue something Kirwan argues would be detrimental to the city.

"This is going to have the inside people against the outside people. It's going to have the casino people against the anti-casino people," Kirwan said.

"It's just going to be a lot of energy and a lot of bitterness for nothing. That's what I'm opposed to."

The first hearing will be held in council chambers during the planning committee meeting at 4:30 p.m., today. The second meeting will be scheduled for later this year.