Sudbury to make infrastructure decision.

• Author: Atkins, Michael
• Position: President's Note

This year, the City of Sudbury is going to make a big decision. It will have an impact on the built-form culture and development of the city for the next half-century.

The decision is whether to build a new arena downtown (where the current one is located) or move to a location outside of the city core. These decisions are never made without controversy. A multimillion-dollar decision of any kind can have disproportionate impact on public and private interests. In an echo system with scarce resources, these decisions are hard fought and inevitably become personal because everybody knows everybody. You end up on one side or the other, even if you aren't. It can get testy.

My favourite donnybrook over scarce resources and development took place in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, in a small town called Blockhouse not far from where I have a summer cottage. The volunteer fire department added a new truck bay to their fire hall (to house their brand new pumper) without applying for a building permit. They didn't think they had to. At one point the county determined it had to tear it down. Before all was said and done, eight volunteer fire-fighters and their department faced a total of 47 provincial charges. When they finally arrived at court it was decided to drop 40 of the charges, the department agreed to plead guilty to four charges under the provincial building code. Chief Shawn agreed to pay a fine of $400, and the municipal council agreed to amend its land use bylaw which excluded emergency services from having to go through a development agreement before putting up the building. Who knows how many friendships were lost and money spilled over a garage attached to a fire hall.

Sometimes facts are less important than emotions.

Sudbury has done a lot to combat that sucking sound of commerce and community slinking to the suburbs. In the 1960s, they created the City Centre retail complex, which became the Rainbow Centre. In the 1970s, Don Collins, chair of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury, forced through the implementation of the new Civic Square complex. It revitalized the downtown at the time and wouldn't have happened without him. In the 1990s...