North Saanich says no to slot machine proposal (BC)
North Saanich says no to slot machine proposal
Gaming corporation not giving up on redeveloping facility.
Harness racers head to the finish line at Sandown Raceway. Council in North Saanich voted unanimously to deny a year-old rezoning application from the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation that would have seen slot machines at Sandown.
Kim Westad, Times Colonist, Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Slot machines are off the table in North Saanich — for now.
Council has voted unanimously to deny a year-old rezoning application from the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation that would have seen slot machines at Sandown Raceway. That’s because the corporation hasn’t done anything on the application.
Despite council’s decision, the corporation said yesterday it hasn’t given up its goal of redeveloping Sandown and installing slot machines at the facility.
"There’s nothing immediate that we are going to do right now. We need more time to work on this project," said Chuck Keeling, vice-president of racing operations.
Keeling didn’t give a time frame and wouldn’t say if there had been a decision to race horses at the track next summer.
The past summer’s season was shortened to 10 days from 24 the year previous. The 10 dates is the minimum required for the corporation to maintain a federal betting licence at Sandown.
The corporation’s proposal in the summer of 2005 — which included no more than 200 slot machines at the track, a promise to hold increased live horse racing, a three-acre park donation and improved infrastructure and equestrian facilities — was met positively by council. They hired a negotiator to help with the process, and gave the corporation a detailed list last fall of things that needed to be done.
But the application has sat idle, despite numerous requests from municipal staff to the gaming corporation to move forward.
"It’s been one thing and another as to why they haven’t been able to move forward. It’s a bit of a mystery," said Mayor Ted Daly, who said the corporation may simply have had other priorities. They own six casinos throughout B.C.
"They tell us they’re interested but the proof is in the pudding, and so far, we haven’t seen the pudding."
For council, time has run out for this application, although there’s nothing stopping the corporation from trying again. They’d have to start from scratch though, and council and the community are divided on gaming.
Slot machines were approved by 57 per cent of North Saanich voters who cast a ballot in a November 2004 referendum. Council at the time of the rezoning application and council now are split on the issue of slot machines at the racetrack. Some say they are necessary to fund revitalization of the track, while others say that can happen without expanded gaming.
Coun. Cairine Green said she’s against expansion of gambling at the site, saying there is too much criminal activity associated with gaming that would "place a real strain on the already stretched policing on the Peninsula."
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006
© 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.
