Council will decide on Monday whether the lot next to the John D. Bradley Convention Centre is the best spot for Chatham's new casino.
The application for site plan control for Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited's proposed "Cascades Casino" is being presented at Monday night's council meeting.
The application recommends that the Municipality of Chatham-Kent fully endorses the location of a new casino-style gaming facility at 615 Richmond St. in Chatham.
If approved, the application would permit the construction of a 45,280 sq ft casino, including two restaurants and a patio.
The site plan is subject to the following conditions:
- The applicant is responsible for an approximately 1.5m road widening along the front of the lot on Keil Dr. S to the satisfaction of the municipality, free of charge, and clear of all obstructions.
- The applicant must move an approximately 3m daylight corner along the south property line to the south intersecting point of the 1.5 m road widening and the current daylight triangle. This must also be done to the satisfaction of the municipality, free of charge, without any obstructions.
- All points of access and parking on the subject property and the adjacent properties must be designed and configured to the satisfaction of the municipality.
Chatham Councillor Derek Robertson says he is definitely in favour of the new location. He says it makes a lot of sense to have the casino beside the John D. Bradley Convention Centre.
"The best opportunity for the casino to be successful and to provide greater opportunity for economic success and jobs in Chatham-Kent is to have the casino anchored in a logical place in an urban centre, which is precisely what the proposal is looking to do," he says.
Robertson says he is empathetic towards the North-Kent councillors who will be saying goodbye to Gateway Casinos Dresden when the new casino is created.
"I think the Dresden Slots were optimized as best as they could be, but the facility itself is very small and probably doesn't offer the value necessarily relative to having the dense population surrounding it as it will in the more urban centre," he explains.
North-Kent Councillor Leon Leclair says he is also in favour of the proposal, but is worried about a loss of business in Dresden.
"I don't like to see less traffic going through our smaller communities," explains Leclair. "The stores, the restaurants, flower shops, etc.-- the traffic does help their business and there will be less traffic, so that's the downside of all this."
Leclair adds that he hopes Gateway Casinos will work with the Capitol Theatre to peak more interest there as well.
North-Kent Councillor Joe Faas says some things you just don't have control of.
"It will probably affect some of the businesses, gas stations, and restaurants...and the ag society. It's a source of revenue for them so they're probably going to lose that revenue as well. There's some definite effects," he explains.
Faas says he'll still be supporting the location and thinks the spot makes sense.