A court date has been set to deal with the Minnow Lake Restoration Group’s legal challenge against the City of Greater Sudbury, with a divisional court hearing set for April 11 at 10 a.m.
These hearings are typically adjudicated by three judges, at which decisions can be rendered immediately or take several weeks, according to a media release issued by the group.
The legal challenge was filed on Aug. 13, 2021, and alleges that members of council joined city staff in making “numerous errors of law” in the leadup to city council’s decision to proceed with the KED, which is expected to include a municipal arena on The Kingsway alongside a private casino and hotel.
The main pillar of their argument is that numerous requests for information made by city councillors remained unanswered in subsequent reports, which meeting transcripts confirm.
"Without those answers, it might be a case where the cart is being put before the horse,” the group’s lawyer, Eric Gillespie, said at the time.
A media release issued by the group this week highlights the latest in the ongoing legal challenge, including the results of a cross-examination of Eric Labelle.
The city clerk and solicitor was cross-examined on Feb. 17, during which he reaffirmed various points that have already been reported.
One point of criticism the Minnow Lake Restoration Group highlighted out of his cross-examination is that there are no agreements in place for a hotel operator at the KED.
In emailed correspondence with Sudbury.com, a city spokesperson confirmed their finding, in that although Genesis Hospitality and the developer announced an agreement, “there is no written agreement required for this that involves the (City of Greater Sudbury).”
“At the last update to Council, staff indicated that all four parties will work together to develop a Project Completion Agreement. Genesis Hospitality is working towards this goal with the other three partners and has indicated its intention to sign the PCA as a full partner.”
These four partners include the city, Gateway Casinos, Genesis Hospitality and the developer.
According to the city’s latest project timeline, a project completion agreement is expected to be signed by all partners early in the third quarter of this year, subject to the event centre design-build request for proposal. Site preparation work will begin after this commitment has been signed, which will set in stone the legally binding build commitment a handful of the city’s elected officials have been advocating for in recent months.
Although the Minnow Lake Restoration Group’s legal challenge seeks to invalidate a July 14 vote of city council to proceed with the KED, they’ve already contributed to the project’s delay.
In late November, Gateway Casinos – the project’s hotel partner – announced that they were putting their continued investment into the project on hold, in part due to the Minnow Lake Restoration Group’s legal challenge. They also cited an OPP investigation related to Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier’s allegation that he was offered a bribe to vote on the location of a new municipal arena in 2017, which he declined.
“Given this uncertainty around the project, it is not commercially reasonable for Gateway to continue to provide additional significant funding to the next phase of the project until these ongoing challenges are resolved and the entire scope of the project is confirmed to be moving ahead,” a Gateway Casinos representative told the city through emailed correspondence at the time, in which they also established their continued support for the project.
With Gateway Casinos putting things on pause, the site preparation work expected to begin in late November was put on pause and the KED’s grand opening has been pushed into 2025 from its previous 2024.
Although city council remains divided on the KED, the project has consistently received the majority support required to move it forward. Last month, a motion by Montpellier requesting an Oct. 24 referendum question on the KED was defeated with a vote of 8-5. The city’s timeline for approvals would remove the project as an election issue in advance in this year’s municipal election. City council has budgeted $100 million toward the project, including $90 million in debt, with any additional expenditure requiring a vote of council.
By September of last year, legal challenges related to the KED had cost the city approximately $850,000. To date, the city has successfully defended itself from all of these challenges.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
