It shouldn’t come as surprise that the City of Richmond is filing an objection with the B.C. Lottery Corporation over the Delta casino project.
Saying the reasons for their objection had already been clearly laid out after the lottery corporation went along with Delta’s insistence on a hotel/casino complex at the Town & Country site, Mayor Malcolm Brodie told the Delta Optimist he’s hoping there will be serious consideration at looking for a more suitable location.
“The bottom line is we have given notice of objection to B.C. Lotteries, and, once we’ve done that, it sends into motion some kind of a dispute resolution process. We have previously told Delta and the lottery corporation of our concerns, so I don’t think our objection and the substance of them will be a surprise,” Brodie said.
“They knew we would object and would receive our notice of objection,” he added.
Brodie noted that BCLC had North Delta in mind when it was first announced that the Newton casino licence would be relocated.
“We would hope that they take a look at it some more and the process would lead to a rethink,” he said.
Delta council this week did the expected and, in a 4-2 vote, gave final approval of the Gateway Casinos and Entertainment Ltd. $70-million casino/hotel complex.
Consultation took place with the City of Richmond because the neighbouring municipality is within five kilometres of the proposed facility. It was only after Delta council gave final reading that Richmond could initiate a non-binding dispute resolution process, which will be overseen by BCLC. The process is set out in the Gaming Control Act.
A Richmond staff report earlier this year noted the process may “only address the issues raised in the objection and determine the appropriate compensation to be made, if any, by the host local government to the potentially affected local government for the significant costs the potentially affected local government demonstrates it will incur as a result of the proposed new or relocated facility…The results of the proceedings must be considered by BCLC before it decides within 30 days after receiving the results of the alternate dispute resolution whether to relocate the gaming facility.”
An increase in overall crime, traffic concerns, as well as insufficient transit, cycling and pedestrian access to the Town & Country site were among Richmond’s previously stated concerns.
Still requiring a final stamp of approval by BCLC, Gateway plans to begin construction this fall. Located in Ladner at the junction of highways 17A and 99, adjacent to the George Massey Tunnel, the complex would open in the later part of 2020.
