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Since the land doesn’t have a road access, the developers are asking the city if they can pay for a road to spur the project, and the city would pay back the cost through development charge revenue. The “front-ending” agreements are common at city hall when there’s planned infrastructure upgrades on the city’s books and a developer is nearing the start of construction.

The cost of building a north-south arterial road and realigning a portion of Palladium Drive to facilitate the subdivision access is about $10.2 million.

Photo by Jean Levac / Postmedia News

The committee unanimously endorsed the front-ending agreement. Council will vote Dec. 11.

The Senators are worried people travelling by vehicle to the arena will suffer by the road design.

“Delay is actually the No. 1 concern of (arena) patrons today,” Crombie said. “Getting out of the (parking) lots is already one of, if not the No. 1, complaint by our fans and the proposed roadway will be adding additional time and congestion to the post-event time period.”

Crombie said additional pedestrian movements between the new subdivision and the arena — since ticket-holders are likely to search for parking in the subdivision — will also slow traffic and create safety problems.

The Senators are already forking out money to manage traffic distant to the arena land, Crombie said, citing the paid-duty cops required as far away as one kilometre from the site.

“This development is likely to add to those ongoing costs and there is absolutely no mention of restitution,” Crombie said.