Members of the Penticton local council discussed the plan of the new casino complex on the Monday meeting. According to the voting, the majority of council representatives decided to support the plan for Gateway Casinos and Entertainment. This means that soon the new Cascades Casino will be presented to inhabitants of Penticton. The novel facility will take place near the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The complex in British Columbia won’t just give local people a new location to have fun and relax with friends, but will also create around 150 available job positions and also make a $25 million investment in the economy. The plan of the new site is impressive; the casino will have several restaurants with various cuisines, a gambling hall, some areas where visitors can enjoy live performances and a patio on the roof.
Ms. Colleen Pennington, the officer responsible for the economic development of the Penticton, expressed some concerns regarding the project in her speech. Ms. Pennington offered to consider the problem of traffic and parking accurately, as this matter is topical and close to many community members. In her speech, she also pointed out that the city council received a 90% positive community input on this project. Also, Ms. Colleen Pennington suggested sending a letter to the B.C. Lottery Corporation to discuss the possibility of relocating the facility to the Penticton Lakeside Resort.
Among other issues that the community members were worried about were the possible growth of garbage on the streets in the area between the casino and the offside parking and the current location of the facility. People had concerns about children’s safety because of the elementary school located in the same area. Another issue is traffic, which is dangerous for the students of the elementary school.
To resolve traffic concerns the city council members consider making some off-site parking lots and pointing shuttles. They are confident that any matters with parking can be solved by creating a scheduled tow trucks circulation around the whole area.
The decision about changing the location was taken unanimously; six members voted for it, and none voted against. Bearing in account that one member of the council — Tarik Sayeed was absent; the decision will not be changed, as the majority voted for. So now, the B.C. Lottery Corporation is supposed to say their final verdict on this concern, the city council is expecting their decision in two weeks.