Sudbury 'dropped the ball' on walkability commitment, says group

As city council gets ready to vote on the final design for the proposed Kingsway Entertainment District, Andre Dumais says the city of Sudbury has been painfully out of step with its commitment to walkability.

Dumais, a local business owner and vice-chair of the city's Committee for Sustainable Planning and Development, said themuch-touted commitment to walkability and pedestrian-friendly design was trumped by the grand vision of an entertainment centre with a hotel, casino and new ice pad.

On Sunday afternoon, Dumais helped organize a four-kilometre march from the Costco parking lot on the Kingsway to the proposed site of theentertainment district currently a snowy patch of vacant land near Levesque Street.

The goal of the march, Dumais said, was to mimic what would happen if people decided to go out for dinner in the bustling Marcus Drive commercial area before heading to the new arena.

"We want to demonstrate to council that they really dropped the ball on a commitment they made to the city to make it a more walkable and more pedestrian friendly city ... by putting a community asset out four kilometres from the nearest area of commercial investment," Dumais said.

The group of about 50received a police escort down the Kingsway which slowed some passing traffic down, while others cars zoomed past at the posted 80 kilometre an hour speed limit.

One of the people participating in the walk was Sudbury's Kyle Tarlton, who pushed his 11-month old son along in a stroller.

"Clearly it's not the best walk one could do with an 11-month-old," Tarlton said. "Obviously, downtown would be a lot better. Slower speeds, quieter roads."

"I hope to leave a better city for [my son] in the future when he's older. A more sustainable Sudbury, more compact."

City council is set to vote on the final design for the proposed entertainment district. Earlier this month, Toronto-based Cumulus Architects presented their vision for the district.

The proposed plan combines an arena, hotel and casino, with room allotted for further expansion.

The separate components would be joined by a pedestrian bridge, and a green space would roll across the site, letting people join up to walking paths on Levesque Street and Bancroft Drive.

The project is modelled after similar facilities in Edmonton, Toronto and Texas, Cumulus said.