Agenda
City Council

Council will consider, by way of one resolution, Planning Committee resolutions, which will be posted online following the meeting. Any questions regarding these resolutions should be directed to Councillor Cormier, Chair, Planning Committee.

WHEREAS a local architecture company, 3rd Line Studio, has proposed a plan to renovate the Sudbury Community Arena into a multi-function event centre, and to do so for as little as 60% of the cost of building a new multi-function event centre;

AND WHEREAS the 3rd Line Studio plan, entitled Project Now, also includes an indoor parking facility which could address an identified parking need in Downtown Sudbury;

AND WHEREAS realizing up to 40% savings by renovating the historic Sudbury Community Arena into a multi-function event centre would potentially save up to $40 million that the city could invest in other community recreation and infrastructure projects;

AND WHEREAS it has been proposed that design and engineering work on Project Now could begin immediately and construction could begin quickly without negatively affecting the operations of the Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five over a three-year construction period;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that City of Greater Sudbury Council instruct the City’s Large Projects management team to evaluate the Project Now plan and report back to council in the form of a report focusing on answering three questions:

1) Will the Project Now plan result in a multi-function event centre suitable to the city’s needs as prescribed in the 2017 PWC report?;

2) Are the timelines associated with the Project Now plan feasible?;

3) Is the cost structure of the Project Now plan reasonable and accurate based on current information?

AND THAT this evaluation include liaising with the Project Now team, and review of previous staff reports on renovating the Sudbury Community Arena;

AND THAT this report be presented to council at the October 6th, 2020 City Council meeting.

As presented by Councillor McCausland:

WHEREAS Payday Loan Establishments currently operate within the City of Greater Sudbury and the number of those establishments seems to be increasing, particularly in the core of the City;

AND WHEREAS there are concerns that payday loan establishments are “predatory” and take advantage of low-income residents who do not have access to credit and become trapped in debt cycles as a result of exorbitant fees charged by these establishments;

AND WHEREAS payday loan establishments are often located near sensitive land uses where the greatest number of vulnerable citizens live or visit regularly;

AND WHEREAS the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25, as amended, at Section 154.1 states that “despite section 153 and without limiting sections 9, 10 and 11, a local municipality, in a by-law under section 151 with respect to payday loan establishments, may define the area of the municipality in which a payday loan establishment may or may not operate and limit the number of payday loan establishments in any defined area in which they are permitted”;

AND WHEREAS By-law 2004-350, as amended, provides for the licensing and regulation of various businesses and has not been substantially reviewed since its passing;

AND WHEREAS business licensing is in place, in part, to protect the public from fraudulent and/or predatory business practices;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Greater Sudbury direct that staff conduct a review of By-law 2004-350 as amended, and bring a report to Council by the end of the third quarter of 2021, which would also consider potential restrictions for payday loan establishments which could regulate the location of those establishments, including minimum separation distances between payday loan establishments and minimum separation distances from various sensitive land uses, including but not limited to social service locations, methadone clinics, group homes, schools, affordable housing units, etc., as well as a maximum number of those establishments per ward.