Casino gets OK for $318M raceway expansion

Hard Rock Casino Ottawa will build a hotel, concert theatre and expand gambling now that city council has backed a $318-million redevelopment of the Rideau Carleton Raceway.

Wednesday’s 18-5 vote in favour of the necessary land-use rules will let Hard Rock and the race way begin the multi-year project, scheduled to be complete by 2022. Councillors Keith Egli, Catherine McKenney, Diane Deans, Jeff Leiper and Tobi Nussbaum voted against the zoning changes. Coun. Jody Mitic was absent from the meeting.

McKenney tried to convince colleagues to cap the number of slot machines at the facility at 2,000 through zoning regulations. Nussbaum wanted two per cent of the city’s gambling revenues to help Ottawa Public Health fund a new plan to protect residents from problem gambling. Both councillors lost.

Hard Rock anticipates city hall will receive more than $12 million in gambling revenue through a hostcity contribution agreement with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. Today, the city receives about $6 million in gambling revenues.

The concert theatre will have 2,500 seats and the nine-storey hotel will have 200 rooms. The company plans to install restaurants and displays of music memorabilia.

Horse racing will continue at the facility.

The city will start looking for 35 personal support workers now that council has endorsed the hiring plan at the municipal longterm care homes.

The move is in response to a critical audit and independent review of the four long-term care homes run by the city. Greg Fougère, the consultant hired to review the facilities, discovered residents are receiving less care than other residents in Ontario non-profit facilities.

The city is using $800,000 from its one-time and unforeseen expenses account to hire the PSWs or other necessary staff in 2018, but council will need to spend $2.3 million annually on the staff starting in 2019.

Council approved the staff-recommended route to extend LRT through Kanata, but it might not be built for another 13-plus years.

The estimated cost is $1.85 billion in 2017 dollars.

Kanata LRT is poised to be Stage 3 of the O -Train project. Stage 1 between Tunney’s Pasture and Blair station is scheduled to open in November, and Stage 2, with rail expansions to Moodie Drive, Algonquin College, Trim Road and Riverside South, is scheduled to be complete by 2023.

The 11-kilometre rail line, going west from Moodie Drive, will run along the north side of Highway 417 before crossing over the highway at the Canadian Tire Centre, continuing south to a terminus at Hazeldean Road. There will be eight stations on the route.

Companies that operate bikesharing services can now use city land at a reduced rate.

The services deploy stations where people can pick up and return rented bikes. Council approved a fee break for the services as a trial run for 2018. The cost will be $250 per station, per year, and $1 per bike, per month.

The regular fees required companies to pay thousands of dollars a year to set up a bike station on municipal property, like a sidewalk or boulevard.

The two-storey Sandy Hill building that was once home to Lester B. Pearson should be torn down, council decided.

The majority of council sided with its planning committee, which voted to allow the Ugandan High Commission to demolish the decrepit structure at 231 Cobourg St. and build a new office on the property. The built-heritage subcommittee, which includes expert citizens, previously voted to deny the demolition and reconstruction.

Pearson lived in the building between 1955 and 1958 when he was minister of external affairs. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.