Don’t bet on the City of North Vancouver turning to gaming as a way to pay for the new Harry Jerome rec centre project any time soon.
A motion to refer the matter to public hearing was defeated 5-2 during the May 14 council meeting, with councillors citing a lack of will from the public with regards to making casino gambling a reality in the municipality when casting their votes.
“I’ve been at the table for quite a while and, like amalgamation, casino gaming seems to just come back every once in a while,” said Coun. Rod Clark. “I don’t believe it’s necessary or desired. I don’t hear a groundswell of support from the public for casino gaming.”
Coun. Craig Keating, who first proposed the motion during the March 12 meeting along with the idea that revenue from the legalization of retail cannabis could also be used to fund Harry Jerome, noted that what was being proposed wasn’t actually a casino, but rather a look at the city’s current zoning bylaw that has a blanket prohibition on all gaming.
“My principal interest here … is to find a way that the city will not have what I consider to be a major unfunded liability with Harry Jerome, or, alternately, a Harry Jerome proposal that is going to be, in terms of the residential density proposed, far too big,” Keating said. “This is a modest proposal that will crack open the door to see what the options are.”
The city plans to pay for a portion of the $210-million rec centre project by leasing land on the southern portion of the site to Darwin Construction, which has proposed building an 840-unit development, including two highrise towers, on 23rd Street. The development is slated to contribute $40 million towards construction of the new Harry Jerome.
Coun. Pam Bookham suggested it was premature for council to be having this discussion.
“I believe these are decisions that should be left to the new council that will be coming in after the next election,” she said. “If we need some direction from the public, we have the option of putting the question of gaming within our community in the form of a referendum on our ballot.”
Mayor Darrell Mussatto, who along with Keating were the lone votes in favour of sending the gaming question to public hearing, said he was worried that if the city didn’t find more sources of revenue to pay for Harry Jerome it could mean a tax rate increase later on.
“We had an opportunity here to help pay for some of Harry Jerome,” he said. “We’re in a very difficult situation here where we’re going to have to foot all those bills.”
The city rejected a bid from Playtime Gaming in 2015 to open a gaming facility in the municipality. In 2016, however, the city expressed interest in potentially hosting a gaming facility, assuming an appropriate site could be determined, after corresponding with the BC Lottery Corp.
While the casino gaming portion of the motion was defeated during Monday’s meeting, council did unanimously vote to write a letter to the Union of B.C. Municipalities and the province supporting cannabis revenue sharing as another option on the table for funding Harry Jerome.
“In terms of the cannabis, I think that there will be an opportunity,” Coun. Don Bell said. “If it’s inevitable and there are revenues to be shared between the province and the municipalities, then I think that we should pursue that with vigour.”
