Published: March 18, 2009 6:00 PM Joe Millican - Abbotsford News
An Abbotsford casino could be in the cards, with businessman Paul Esposito making a fresh bid to build the city’s first large-scale gambling centre. According to preliminary documentation submitted to the City of Abbotsford’s planning department, the extensive “hospitality complex” would include a casino with 500-600 slot machines and 60 games tables. The 10,000-square-metre building, which would be constructed at 30700 Fraser Hwy. and sit adjacent to Highway One, would also include a hotel with up to 100 rooms, a restaurant and 600-seat banquet facility. The application is expected to go to council for the first time on April 6 for initial discussion. At that time, councillors will be asked whether they have any appetite for staff to pursue the plan before it is pushed into the public domain. Esposito’s application is in such early stages that the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is not yet aware of it. Yesterday, the corporation said it is not considering any casino applications for Abbotsford at this time. Esposito himself remained tight-lipped, and said any comments relating to the application are premature.
Mike Dickinson, of the city’s planning department, said yesterday the project is in the “very early stages of rezoning.” Abbotsford Mayor George Peary said he had not yet seen Esposito’s casino proposal. However, he did say such a project would be a “revenue source” for the city, with B.C. municipalities receiving 10 per cent of the gambling dollars spent in the casinos that sit inside their boundaries. As well as the cash influx, in a struggling economy and with the city clawing for extra dollars, Peary said Esposito’s development would provide many construction jobs and further employment opportunities on completion. “That’s another consideration, but at the end of the day, each individual councillor has to put the pros and cons into the mix,” he said. While Peary said council could rezone the site to allow casino use, the mayor said Esposito would then have to deal with BCLC and other agencies. The lottery commission makes the final decision on all casino applications in the province. “It would be a fairly lengthy journey to get to the point where one would be built,” Peary said.
“Casinos bring some social issues as well . . . He will make a pitch to council, and council will decide whether it’s a good use of that property.” In October 2007, council voted in favour of revamping Abbotsford’s bingo hall into an as-yet unopened Community Gaming Centre with up to 125 slot machines. During the public hearing in which that application was discussed, the four-hour session packed Matsqui Centennial Auditorium and included more than 70 speakers. “I don’t doubt this would be any less animated,” Peary said. Esposito has tried unsuccessfully to build a casino in Abbotsford in the past. In March 2006, he brought to council an application for a casino on College Drive. Before council made a decision, however, the B.C. Lottery Corporation (BCLC) said it was not considering any more casinos in the Lower Mainland. The businessman failed in his first casino bid a decade earlier.
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