Plan to fast-track new arena put on ice

Carrie Underwood won't be happy, but Sudbury city councillors have decided to stick with its slow-and-steady approach to building a new Sudbury Arena.

In an 9-4 vote Tuesday night, with a contingent of Sudbury Wolves players and supporters looking on, councillors defeated a motion to fast-track a new arena. The country singer's name came up in Ward 8 Coun. Fabio Belli's argument that many big-name acts can't come here because the limits of the current arena.

“Carrie Underwood would love to come to our arena, but she can't,” Belli said.

Because of the age of Sudbury Arena, he said the city is losing out on a chance to increase revenue with concerts, trade shows and events like the Memorial Cup and major curling events.
While his timetable was aggressive – a new arena in time for the 2015-2016 season – Belli said other cities have been able to get it done. Plymouth built within a year, he said, and North Bay somehow managed to virtually rebuild its rink in even less time.

It was important, Belli argued, for this term of council to commit to the new arena. Waiting will likely lead to another 15 years of waiting and rising costs – similar to the Maley Drive project, which the city has been trying to get done for decades.

With an election coming next year, he doubts fellow councillors would move ahead on such a big project before an election. And after the vote, who knows what will happen, he said.

“Maybe none of us will be on that next council,” he said. “Sudbury needs a new arena – now.”

While the motion was defeated, it was notable that Mayor Marianne Matichuk supported the motion, her most direct comments yet in favour of the estimated $40M-$70M project.

“I think it's time,” she said. “We need to get this done.”

Waiting will only drive up costs for a project everyone agrees must be completed, Matichuk said. And if new facilities in Kitchener and London can turn a profit, why not Sudbury, she said.

“I don't understand why we can't make money like other cities," Matichuk said.

But Ward 2 Coun. Jacques Barbeau said it's silly to tell the public a major project like this could be done in two years. Councillors already approved a process for building a new arena in July, as part of broader plans for arena renewal across the city. So Belli's motion was redundant, he said.

“I certainly support a new Sudbury Arena,” Barbeau said. "But we're not talking about going to the store and buying milk."

While there were lots of supporters at Tom Davies Square, Barbeau said it wasn't an overwhelming turnout, a signal that not everyone wants to speed up the process as much as possible.

"There are as many people at home not supporting" the plan he said. "And for comments to be make that it can be done at no cost to taxpayer? ... There's no such thing as a free lunch."

He doesn't want to wait forever, either, but said five years is a much more realistic time frame than two. Ward 5 Coun. Ron Dupuis agreed, saying no one is a bigger Wolves fan than he.
Dupuis was in the crowd last month when the team's first home game was cancelled because of fog, and felt badly for people who had come from as far away as Dryden to see the game.

“I can imagine how frustrated they were,” he said. “My apologies to them.”

But getting funding in place so quickly at a time when the federal and provincial governments are broke is unrealistic and will increase the cost to taxpayers, he said. And hopes of making money once it's built are remote.

“We have a venue that has long outlived its usefulness," Dupuis said. “We need a new arena ... But we have to make sure we are upfront with the people, and we have to make sure we do our due diligence.

“Carrie Underwood can stay wherever she is.”

And Ward 6 Coun. Andre Rivest questioned why Sudbury Arena would get priority over rinks in other wards that also need work. Progress on rehabilitating Chelmsford Area, for example, would be affected if Sudbury became the main priority.

“You have to look at the whole picture,” he said. “To expedite this would affect every ward.”

Ward 7 Coun. Dave Kilgour, who supported the motion, said council appeared to be “all reading from the same book, we're all just on different chapters.”

Kilgour joined Craig in supporting Belli. Craig became particularly impassioned, pounding the table at one point, reminding councillors of all the time they wasted last term wrestling with the failed Legacy Projects.

“Remember last term? We had those projects that went nowhere,” Craig said. “The longer we wait, the more we're going to have to pay.”

But with firm opposition from the rest of council – Ward 11 Coun. Terry Kett said fast-tracking the arena could the “biggest mistake in our history” -- the motion was easily defeated.

Currently, city staff is working on what's known as expressions of interest. CAO Doug Nadorozny said developers have contacted the city expressing interest in building a new arena, and they're being asked to formalize that interest, a process that will take two months. After that, the city will ask for more formal, detailed proposals, a process that will lead eventually to bidders submitting detailed proposals and cost estimates.