At the latest council meeting, Greater Sudbury councillors voted to dismiss a referendum motion relating to the Kingsbury Entertainment District (KED).
Greater Sudbury city councillors voted on Tuesday to dismiss a motion to hold a referendum regarding the Kingsbury Entertainment District (KED) development project. The motion, which was tabled by Ward 3 councillor, Gerry Montpellier, was voted down, although the councillor still believes the locals must have a say on the matter.
KED was announced in 2017, although the building of the CA$100 million event centre is yet to commence. The project, which is expected to include a hockey arena, a hotel, and a CA$60 Gateway Casinos venue, has faced various legal challenges that have prevented it from breaking ground.
Latest Council Vote
On Tuesday, council members dismissed Montpellier’s motion for a KED referendum. The councillor aimed to piggyback the referendum question off the 24 October municipal elections by asking the locals whether they support spending CA$113,000,000 on the project. Following the vote, the opposing council members commented that the arena development can now hopefully move forward without further obstructions.
During the meeting, Montpellier’s motion was reviewed as a reconsideration of a July 2021 decision to proceed with KED development, which passed with an eight to three vote. During the deliberations, mayor Brian Bigger commented that passing the motion would stop the construction of the arena.
As a reconsideration, the only qualified council members able to move the motion were the ones who voted in favour of the July 2021 decision to go ahead with the plan. However, none of the eight backers of the project were willing to support the latest motion, and the mayor declared it null. Ward 1 councillor, Mark Signoretti, challenged the mayoral decision, but his motion was also rejected.
Following a media briefing, mayor Bigger commented that the council made a clear decision to proceed with the KED project. According to Bigger, motions raised to stop the development waste everyone’s time and make the city council less effective. Ward 2 councillor, Michael Vagnini, also tabled an anti-KED motion, but he pulled it before the debate.
