DBIA also getting casino cut

Shorelines Casino Peterborough providing $500K is sponsorship for downtown events over 20 years

The City of Peterborough won’t be alone, in receiving revenues from the new casino – the Downtown BIA is about to get cash directly from the casino too.

Under an agreement, the DBIA will receive up to $500,000 in sponsorship of their downtown events from the casino, over the next 20 years.

New details have emerged about the agreement that resolved the appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) of the Shorelines Casino Peterborough rezoning.

Under the deal, the DBIA will get $150,000 per year from the city, for 20 years, to promote the downtown and “for security purposes.” A city staff report published last week said so.

But on Friday, The Examiner obtained a copy of the minutes of settlement; the document also details promises made by Great Canadian Gaming Corp. to the DBIA.

The minutes say that the DBIA can ask the casino operators for sponsorship for any downtown event and get at least $5,000 per event.

Great Canadian Gaming Corp. has promised a maximum of $25,000 annually for sponsorship of DBIA events, for the next 20 years.

The minutes don’t specify which downtown events are eligible for sponsorship - but the DBIA holds dozens of events downtown every year, including parades and outdoor festivals.

Great Canadian Gaming Corp. is the B.C.-based company that is planning to build and operate the casino on Crawford Dr. and The Parkway, in the city’s south end.

After the city granted a rezoning on that property in 2016, the DBIA and AON Inc., a downtown landlord, appealed the decision to the OMB.

The DBIA and AON argued that a casino should be located downtown because it brings crowds and investments to the city’s core.

Putting a casino in the city’s south end would draw people away from the downtown, they argued – and it would hurt downtown business.

But earlier this week, the two parties dropped their appeal after agreements were reached. The appeal was withdrawn, and the three-week OMB hearing – which was scheduled for May – was cancelled.

A city staff report released at a meeting Feb. 21 stated that the city would be giving money to the DBIA for security purposes.

But until now, little has been known about what Great Canadian Gaming Corp. agreed to offer.

In addition to sponsorship money, Great Canadian Gaming Corp. and the Ontario Gaming East Partnership agreed to the following:

No special events will be held at the casino at the same time as the DBIA is holding any special event downtown.

If the casino wants to hold an event that conflicts with a downtown event, it needs written permission from both the DBIA and AON (and that permission can be withheld for any reason). This applies for the full term of the agreement, or 20 years.

The casino cannot hold any special event that would attract more than 500 people without written permission from the DBIA and AON.

That means no live performance of any kind – musical, dramatic or otherwise – and no speaking engagements or movie presentations. This also applies for 20 years.

Great Canadian Gaming Corp. also agreed to limiting the size of the bars, restaurants and entertainment spaces in the casino for the first 10 years of the agreement.

The restaurant will seat no more than 190 people, for instance, and the bar will only hold 91.

The entertainment lounge won’t have elevated seating, and it won’t hold any more than 158 people.

There are also minutes of settlement that outline concessions the city agreed to make (in addition to $150,000 annually for the DBIA).

The city promised that a new study would be undertaken this year to consider whether a new hotel is needed in the downtown, for instance.

The city has also agreed to review, in 2017, whether Peterborough needs a new OHL arena; if so, it has promised to consider the soon-tobe-vacated public works yard on Townsend St. as a site.

If that site turns out not to be suitable, the city has agreed to search exhaustively for another site downtown before looking elsewhere.

NOTE: See additional city council coverage on Pages A1, A2 and A5.