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Court costs and Kingsway hearings top of mind as council receives large projects update

City makes submission to recover some $200K of court costs from Superior Court challenge to KED

On an evening where city council got an in depth look at a proposed downtown arena renovation, they were also provided an update on a number of the other large municipal projects currently under development.

Ian Wood, the city's executive director of strategic initiatives, communications and citizen services presented a large projects update on Oct. 6, briefing the mayor and council on the status of the Kingsway Entertainment District, Place des Arts and the Junction East and West.

With groundbreaking on the KED nowhere in sight, Wood's update focused on the legal proceedings that are expected to stretch well into 2021.

"At the Superior Court of Justice, the city was successful in the ruling that was issued by Justice Ellies on Sept. 4. Subsequent to that decision, the city had 30 days to make a submission for an award of costs, which was completed last week within the time limit and that has been submitted in the amount of $200,000 approximately," said Wood.

"The opponents of the project have also officially filed their appeal with the Ontario Court of Appeals and so we will wait to see how that process unfolds, but certainly, and even more so based on the decision of Sept. 4, staff and our legal counsel remain very confident of the city's position."

Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti raised the question of how long could court proceedings take in a worst-case scenario.

"We've always heard best-case scenarios with timelines, so my question is what's the worst case scenario and I'm talking about the timeline," said Signoretti. "My understanding is with an appeal to Superior Court and with the LPAT decision still out there, worst-case scenario is realistically another 18 to 24 months."

Deputy city solicitor Kelly Gravelle said the court of appeals process could take upwards of six months.

"There are a series of administrative matters that need to be taken care of to perfect that appeal by the appellant, then the city will respond, then the intervenor will respond. It's possible with the court of appeal, to a decision, could take upwards of six months," said Gravelle.

"With respect to the LPAT, we'll know more when we hear from Mr. Lauthier (LPAT vice-chair) if he's going to release his decision prior to the decision of the court of appeal or subsequent to that decision, so that might add some time onto there as well. They're incredibly interrelated right now, but as far as the court of appeal, I think realistically about six months."

Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc was interested in whether or not the city would be able to recoup the legal costs associated with the LPAT hearings.

"With the cost of LPAT being $300,000, do we have any legal recourse to recoup costs against anti-casino Sudbury (sic: the correct name for the group is Casino-Free Sudbury), the BIA, Mr. (Steve) May, etc.?" asked Leduc.

"The LPAT, while there is an opportunity with respect to costs, it's certainly not the same where costs automatically follow the successful party," replied Gravelle. "It's much more unlikely that we're going to be able to obtain costs at the LPAT. Other than that there's really no other mechanism other than trying to go through the LPAT to obtain those costs."

When it comes to the Junction project, during the city's large projects update in June, it was heard that changes including the possible addition of an underground parking structure have bumped up the total cost of the project by an estimated $8-12 million.

The Junction East project, which will include the main branch of library, the Franklin Carmichael Art Gallery of Sudbury, and possibly the Sudbury Theatre Centre and the Sudbury Multicultural and Folk Arts Association, the city has agreed to terms with a preferred proponent and are awaiting final documentation for confirmations as is required under the contract.

The full contract execution and announcement of the firm chosen is expected to happen within two weeks.

"We have spoken with the preferred proponent as recently as this afternoon and they indicate that they're very positive that they'll receive this documentation by the end of this week," said Wood. "We have served them notice that we've given them 10 business days to resolve this matter as we don't want this to continue to go on indefinitely, so we do expect a contract announcement within the next two weeks."

Junction West is to include a privately operated hotel, a conference and convention centre, and a community auditorium and performance theatre. There is also a potential for residential and retail space. The city is also looking at the potential of having a World Trade Centre located in the Junction West development.

"On Sept. 15, the finance and administration committee received a report on the World Trade Centre, no further direction was provided by council that evening and the proponent has indicated their intent to review the current situation and review the next steps," said Wood.

"As a result, staff are going back to review and update the current project in the context of changing market forces and other activity downtown. We will be bringing additional analysis to council at the next update."

To date, the total cost for both the Junction East and West projects is about $1.15 million, or one per cent of total project funding.

If you've taken a drive down Elgin Street lately, you would have been hard-pressed not to notice the Place des Arts construction that has been ongoing. To date, $1.5 million has been disbursed from the $5 million capital funding as required milestones are achieved.

"It's easy to see if one takes a walk downtown, the building is going up well, the roof will soon be completed, windows are going in this month and work inside on electrical, fire and other systems (are also expected to be completed)," said Wood.

"They've now got some of their administrative staff on the job and working and they continue to expect the facility opening in late 2021."

The next milestone on the project is to reach 50-per-cent building completion, which will allow for an additional disbursement of $1.5 million, this is anticipated to occur in 2021, with the facility expected to open fully late next year.


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