Initial plans to develop Red Deer Resort and Casino with an additional 2,000-person capacity event centre and a future across-the-street parkade were denied by the Municipal Planning Commission this week.
In a 4-2 decision, members of the MPC rejected the event centre development proposal Wednesday on the grounds there would be insufficient onsite parking to accommodate all intensified uses.
Red Deerians were previously made aware that the new owners of the hotel property, O’Chiese Hospitality Inc., are planning to relocate Jackpot Casino from the downtown to the site of the former Cambridge Hotel and Convention Centre site at the corner of 50th Avenue and 32nd Street.
The existing hotel convention centre on the southwest side of the property is to be turned into a casino. A development permit for the casino project was issued last year.
What the public has been unaware of, until now, is that the owners also want to build a new 3,028-square-metre event centre that would hold 2,000 people on the site of two former nightclubs on the northeast side of the property. A spokesman for the owners had previously said the plan was to use this space for additional parking.
But according to the plan presented to the MPC, the two clubs would be demolished to make way for the construction of a modernized, large event centre that would be double the space of the former nightclubs.
The submitted development application had asked MPC to approve a decrease to 551 parking stalls onsite from the minimum requirement of 577 stalls. Also, less requirements for landscaping and to the front yard clearance were requested.
To accommodate all the parking needs for the more intensified uses of the property, the owners suggested building a future off-site parkade across 32nd Street and directly south of the hotel on a site already used as a parking lot.
But most MPC members did not see the off-site parkade as a viable solution.
Although Mayor Ken Johnston and Coun. Kraymer Barnstable were in favour of the event centre development, as proposed, Coun. Lawrence Lee and citizen representatives Linda Cullen-Saik, Jack Engel and Tony McDonnell were not.
The majority of MPC members felt the lack of sufficient onsite parking could “unduly impact the use or enjoyment of neighbouring properties and create impacts to traffic flow.”
They also doubted the proposed number of park spaces would be enough to accommodate all of the vehicles of clients for the casino, as well as the event centre, although there might be some overlapping uses.
Denise Hahn, of Aggregate Design Studios, who spoke on behalf of the applicants at the MPC hearing, could not immediately be reached to comment on what the next steps will be.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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