Referendum to halt Kingsway Entertainment District 'not going to happen,' councillor says

A new petition won't stop the Kingsway Entertainment District from going ahead in Greater Sudbury, according to Councillor Robert Kirwan.

The major development — expected to feature a casino, hotel, and publicly-funded arena — was first proposed by Sudbury developer Dario Zulich in 2015, but has been embroiled in legal matters until late last year.

After a heated discussion in June, Sudbury city council reaffirmed its commitment to the project, which has associated costs of $100 million.

But an online petition started late last month calls for a referendum on the issue and proposes the city should instead renovate the current arena on Elgin Street.

It echoes a push from a local design firm, 3rd Line Studio, in 2020. Called "Project Now," the renovation plan was pitched as a cost-saving alternative to building the KED. 

So far, the online petition has garnered more than 1,800 signatures.

The petition was started by Sudbury resident and media entrepreneur Patrick Crowe, who said he was "astonished" that such a decision was made by council.

"A proposal to build an arena on the periphery of the city where the highway peters out on the road to nowhere, next to the municipal landfill — which is still in operation, is so patently absurd."

Crowe says that moved him to speak out.

"We feel that the process of making this decision has been conducted in a very closed-door way where the public has not actually been given the opportunity to input meaningfully and to have their opinion noted," he said.

"It seems like it's late but there was never another time where our opinions were solicited by the people making those decisions."

Despite the controversy surrounding the project, Crowe believes there's a significant portion of Sudburians who want the arena to remain downtown.

"Far from being the peripheral kooks, who the proponents of this Kingsway Entertainment District scheme like to say me and my colleagues are, we're probably representing a very significant portion of the population, if not the majority," Crowe said. 

But councillor Robert Kirwan, who has been a vocal proponent of the KED, said he isn't worried.

"They can submit all the petitions they want. At the end of the day, it's up to council to approve whether we have a referendum," he said. "That's not going to happen right now."

"The petition is nothing more than a pre-election strategy to try and undermine the public confidence in city council."

Kirwan went on to say there are rules governing referendum questions.

"[The petition] wouldn't even qualify for a referendum question because a referendum question has to have a yes or no answer," he said. "They could put a question out, shall we renovate the downtown area? But they couldn't say, should we have the arena downtown or on the Kingsway? Because that's not a yes or no answer."

"Staff will review a petition and they will come back to council with a report. And I can tell you right now that staff is going to say this is not an issue that would even qualify for a referendum." 

The Municipal Election Act states that any question listed for a referendum on election ballots must be approved by a municipal council, and that must happen six months prior to the election. The next municipal election is scheduled for October 24, 2022.

The legislative requirements for holding a referendum also states the question:

• shall concern a matter within the jurisdiction of the municipality

• Shall be capable of being answered in the affirmative or negative, and the only permitted answers of yes or no.

• Not otherwise authorized by law within the council's jurisdiction

The last time a referendum was held in Greater Sudbury was during the 2014 election, and it focused on a question about the regulation of store hours.

Kirwan says the opposition to the KED reminds him of when there was opposition to building Science North back in the 1980s.

"It doesn't matter what we do in the city, there's going to be a small group of people that make a lot of noise and make it look as if it's divisive," he said.

"Council is not divisive. Council is actually working very well together. When you take a look at the vote to select the Kingsway, [for the new municipal arena] it was 10 to 2."

In the meantime, city staff is working with the KED partners to develop the site plan and construction timeline. The municipal arena is expected to take two years to complete.

All three — the arena, casino and hotel — are expected to open to the public by the fall of 2024