Despite the back-and-forth debate between groups for and against a waterfront casino in North Bay, the odds of it being built in that location are little to none.
During the last Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting on June 30, members of the public used the opportunity to voice their concerns with a waterfront casino after both groups for a waterfront casino and against a waterfront casino created Facebook pages to rally their supporters.
However, Mayor Al McDonald said he didn’t believe a casino would be built on the waterfront, because the parcel of land under the proposed rezoning was too small.
“All the proponents that have come to North Bay said they would need between eight and 10 acres of property,” he said, noting the old Kenroc site is closer to five acres in size.
McDonald said it was the role of staff to present all options available to council—as it is open city land—and council would decide on the rezoning. However, due to the size required for a casino compared to the small size of the former Kenroc site, a casino wouldn’t be able to be built there.
McDonald noted, however, that rezoning the properties owned by the city does increase value to them as well as draw attention to two lots of land the city is looking to sell. He said the whole rezoning process takes approximately six months to complete.
Otherwise, the mayor said he is against a casino on the waterfront and believed that space on the former Kenroc site could be better used to service the community.
“I think the best fit would be on a highway so we can get access to highway traffic and pull visitors in off the highway,” he said.
Currently, the proposed rezoning for all three sites—two city-owned and one private—are still in the process and need to be voted and passed by city council after the staff report is completed. Also being rezoned is the property located at 401 Pinewood Park Drive, the former Moe-Ze-On-Inn, as well as the property across the street from it.
However, it wouldn’t be until much later that more developments with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) would be released, as they are currently in the Request for Proposal (RFP) process until around September 2016. Afterwards, it would take a couple months to evaluate the proposals and McDonald said the city wouldn’t know the selected proponent for the Northern Bundle until around January or February, 2017.
