The owners of Red Deer Resort and Casino are appealing a decision by the Municipal Planning Commission to deny their application to build a large on-site event centre.
On Wednesday, the Red Deer Subdivision Appeal Board confirmed that O’Chiese Hospitality Inc. is appealing the March 22 ruling.
In a 4-2 vote, planning commission members had rejected a proposal to build a large event centre as part of the redevelopment of the former Cambridge Hotel and Convention Centre at the corner of 50th Avenue and 32nd Street.
The event centre was denied on grounds there would be insufficient onsite parking to accommodate all of the intensified uses.
Last year, the property owners had received permission to move Jackpot Casino from downtown onto the site in south Red Deer. Their plan is to move the casino into the existing hotel convention centre on the southwest side of the property.
But O’Chiese Hospitality Inc. also wants to replace the convention centre by building a new 3,028-square-metre event centre that could hold 2,000 people on the site of two former nightclubs on the northeast side of the property.
According the plan presented to MPC in March, 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 property owners wanted MPC to accept a decrease to 551 onsite parking stalls from the minimum requirement of 577 stalls. Also, they asked for less requirements for landscaping and front yard clearance.
To accommodate a potential need for more parking spaces, the property 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.
While City of Red Deer planners had recommended that MPC approve the development with the requested parking variance, most MPC members feared insufficient onsite parking would cause traffic problems on neighbouring streets.
The Red Deer Subdivision and Appeal Board will hear the appeal at 1 p.m. on April 24 in Red Deer city council chambers.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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