Sudbury city council selects Kingsway for new arena location

A new arena will be built on the Kingswayin Sudbury, Ont.,after a 10-2 vote on Tuesday by city council.

Councillors defeated a proposal earlier in the eveningto place thenew eventcentredowntown due to a 6-6 tie.

Coun. Gerry Montpellier abstained from voting because he a declared conflict of interest with the city's motorsports group, which wants to build a park on the Kingsway property.

The estimated $100 million facility will replace the arena that currently exists downtown on Elgin Street.

The Kingsway location was pitched by local entrepreneur Dario Zulich under the brand True North Strong. He has a letter of intent from Gateway Casinos to build a casino on the site, and also wants to build a hotel and convention centre as part of a new entertainment disctrict.

A reportby consultant PriceWaterhouseCoopers indicatedthat the downtown core isthe most suitable location for a new event centre,but the site scored poorly for available parking.

The Kingsway received higher marks for parking and cost, but lower on access and ease of development.

In the lead up to the vote, Prime Real Estate Group revealed it is ready to develop 600 parking spots in the city's core. Ron Bidulka, consultant atPriceWaterhouseCoopers, noted the proposal would have given the downtown more points in his report if ithad been confirmed at the time it was released.

How they voted for downtown

• Coun. MarkSignoretti: yes
• Coun. MichaelVagnini:no
• Coun. Gerry Montpellier: abstained
• Coun. EvelynDutrisac: no
• Coun. RobertKirwan:no
• Coun.ReneLapierre: yes
• Coun. MikeJakubo:no
• Coun. AlSizer: yes
• Coun. DebMcIntosh: yes
• Coun. FernCormier: yes
• Coun. Lynne Reynolds:no
• Coun.JoscelyneLandry-Altmann:no
• Mayor Brian Bigger: yes

How they voted for Kingsway

• Coun. MarkSignoretti: no
• Coun. MichaelVagnini:yes
• Coun. Gerry Montpellier: abstained
• Coun. EvelynDutrisac:yes
• Coun. RobertKirwan: yes
• Coun.ReneLapierre: yes
• Coun. MikeJakubo: yes
• Coun. AlSizer: yes
• Coun. DebMcIntosh: yes
• Coun. FernCormier: no
• Coun. Lynne Reynolds: yes
• Coun.JoscelyneLandry-Altmann:yes
• Mayor Brian Bigger: yes