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Court challenge threatens Lansdowne construction timeline

Lansdowne Park. (Provided)

Published on March 15, 2011; Published on March 15, 2011
OBJ Staff

Redevelopment of Lansdowne Park will likely be pushed back to the fall, given a pending court case with a group opposed to the current plan to refurbish the facility.

Topics :: Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group , Ontario Superior Court

Friends of Lansdowne alleges the city went against its procurement rules when it awarded a $300-million sole-source contract to the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group last year.

An application is before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and is expected to come to a hearing in June.

Construction was originally intended to start in May and finish in June 2013.

In January, Friends of Lansdowne also released a report claiming the city had botched the financial figures for the project, saying it could run as high as $208 million.

However, that figure did not take into account increased property-tax revenue from the redevelopment and was challenged by city officials.

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Comments

Peter Quinlan

- March 16, 2011 at 08:51:49

Interesting figures Have Another Look. What I will contend with is the longer this project is delayed, the more it will cost the city (& therefore the taxpayers). Interesting how a relatively small group of NIMBY's can hold up the process (which, I might add, has already been approved at the council table).

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- Have another Look
  
  - March 16, 2011 at 11:01:19
  
  Yes the numbers are scary indeed. I believe however that an RFP will answer and preclude the need for any court challenge. It will also allow construction to take place 4 months earlier and take advantage of the important summer season. The risk that the City is taking by not simply getting done with the RFP is that it may end up having to do one anyway, causing additional delay. The benefit of having competitive bidding for what council has decided will only make it better for the taxpayer and speed things up. An important consideration when you want to welcome the world to the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and 2015. Let's get it done!
Have another look

- March 15, 2011 at 19:48:22

Surprising that basic finances are so elusive. Current total cost to the City of the plan is $203M and financed over a 40 year debenture at 5.35%. That is a total of $488M. PWC (Price Waterhouse Coopers) Report confirms revenue sharing from OSEG to the City of $85M. Tax revenue from the towers is $150M and avoided costs are $112M = $262M. That leaves a deficit of $488M less the $85M less the $262M = (- $141M). But the tax revenue is tax money as are the avoided costs. The actual taxpayer dollars required will be $403M. Not what you call "revenue neutral".

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