By Lindsey Cooke
PETERBOROUGH- The site plan for the new Shorelines casino was approved last night, but a couple of the councillors weren’t so sure about it.
The location of the new casino is something that has raised concerns from the community and one of the city councillors Diane Therrien.
The casino’s planned to be located on 1400 Crawford Street, which is off the Parkway as you enter the city. The problem is that this location is just outside a provincially significant wetland and Harper Park.
“I’m not convinced that, that scale of that development adjacent to wetlands is necessarily the best place” said Therrien.
She said that there definitely could have been alternative locations that would have been less invasive.
Councillor Dan McWilliams was one of the nine councillors last night that agreed with the site plans for the casino.
“As long as it is well managed and well-regulated I really think it is a positive thing for the city and I think it will be very positive for the residents of this community. I don’t see a negative thing about it at all” said McWilliams.
According to McWilliams there has been discussion of a casino being put in Peterborough for years but it is now finally being approved.He spoke about the environmental complaints and reassured that the issues about the location impacting the environment are being addressed.
Therrien said that she was happy with the way the city was handling the issues by working with concerned environmental groups and she hopes that, this type of engagement continues going forward.However she knows that there has been development issues in that area before because the water table was very high and it is partially wetlands.
“So we will just have to wait and see” explained Therrien.
The next meeting regarding the casino plans is going to be on June 5, where council will have another vote and it will be open to public input and concern.
