Casino Meeting in Pickering
With the proposed casino for Pickering in Ontario, there was a meeting held this week. The casino meeting in Pickering brought out more than 100 people who came to the meeting at the Pickering City Hall. The current proposal regards suggestions to boost tourism, and it also includes plans to include a casino.
The statutory public meeting was held to discuss the application that had been received from Pickering Developments Incorporated. The application requested that land should be rezoned in the area near Church Street and Bayly Street.
Proposed Entertainment and Casino Complex
The proposal from Pickering Developments Inc. was explained by Steve Aposolopoulos, who is the managing partner and co-founder of Pickering Developments. He said that the Durham Live project, with a value of $1.6 billion, would include a range of entertainment choices and more. The project would include a water park, a film studio, top quality hotels for the upscale market, and a casino.
There were many that supported this proposal, however there were also objections. One of the main objections came from the president of Quarter Racing Owners of Ontario Inc., Bob Broadstock. Broadstock said that if they new development goes ahead as planned, it would meant that the Ajax Downs family would end up closing and that horse racing would be stopped. He also cited that there would therefore be loss of jobs, although others have explained that the Pickering Developments would add a large number of new jobs. Other objections seemed centered around the potential traffic problems in the area once thousands would be coming to the casino and other attractions.
There were, however, many who were in favour of the casino complex tourist destination. Some individuals simply expressed their happiness that there would be entertainment nearby and that they would no longer have to travel to be entertained. Others saw the more serious side of things and noted that with the income that the city will receive, the taxpayers burden will be lessened.
OLG's Modernisation Plan and the Pickering Casino
The OLG's modernisation plan has joined certain municipalities into single gaming zones, and each zone is allowed to have only one casino. This means that Pickering, Ajax, and Whitby fall into one zone. For this reason, Ajax Downs will be shut down if the go-ahead is given for the Pickering casino. The Ajax Mayor, Steve Parish, feels that Ajax Downs will be safe and that the new Pickering casino plan will not be approved.
Mayor Parish said: "The Ajax site is one of the most successful in the province," he said in an interview. "When you go down the list and tick off the boxes, Ajax has it. The Province has made it clear, to move it off site, there has to be a strong business case. Pickering doesn't have one."
