Concerns about legal fees, timelines for Kingsway Entertainment District in Sudbury

The Kingsway Entertainment District (KED) in Greater Sudbury is still going through legal challenges, however, some work is still continuing to happen on the project.

So far, the city has spent about $2.2 million on the KED, which is about two per cent of the $100 million projected cost.

The work so far has been mainly engineering work, like storm water management and treatment options for the site in the eastern part of Sudbury, and Kingsway intersection improvements, says David Shelsted, the project manager for the KED.

However, the current legal battles have some city councillors concerned. The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal hearing is set for early May 2020 and now the city is also going to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for fettering charges filed by Tom Fortin.

Fortin is with Casino Free Sudbury and has been a strong opponent of the KED, since the beginning.

"We're spending significant amount of dollars getting this ready without knowing outcomes of Superior Court and LPAT, so there's a lot of unknowns and I want to make it clear that I'm very concerned about doing more work on this without knowing those unknowns," councillor Mark Signoretti said.

Signoretti also asked staff to break down the costs that the "so-called partners" have incurred to assist with the KED project to this point. Shelsted says they'll get a breakdown of the city's exact portion of the costs and return to council.

Councillor Geoff McCausland also has some concerns about the project and the legal battles.

"There's no timeline for completion at all. If these continue to be appealed this could go on for years. We've already spent hundreds of thousands and will continue to spend hundreds of thousands more in legal fees," he said.

There are also natural issues with the KED site, McCausland says, like it being on a fault line. 

"Everyday this plan seems to make less and less sense and there's a very real chance that we do all of this for nothing and I think it's important we give Sudburians something," he aded.

The city says the costs of legal fees for both the LPAT and the Superior Court case, could be upwards of $500,000.