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Ottawa city council plans to keep fighting a developer’s plans to build housing on a Kanata golf course.
The motion passed Wednesday comes despite the Ontario Land Tribunal ruling against the city and the Supreme Court of Canada refusing to hear its appeal in the long-running battle against owner ClubLink to replace its 18-hole course with 1,500 new homes.
Wednesday’s motion instructed city solicitors to pursue legal options and directed staff to “refuse to make any modifications to land interests held by the city to accommodate residential or other urban development on the subject lands.”
Opposing the development does not conflict with broader goals to create more housing, said Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.
“There are properties all over the city where homes can be built. And there are places all over the city where homes should not be built,” he told CBC.
‘Litigated exhaustively’
Kanata North Coun. Cathy Curry, who brought forward the motion, said there was no need for further development in her ward.
“Kanata, as you know, is one of the most highly developed parts of our city,” she said. “There’s no shortage of housing applications in Kanata north and nor will there ever be.”
But Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante, one of the motion’s few opposing voices, said the city has no legal basis for continuing to fight the development — no matter how much Kanata residents are upset.
“Frustration does not equal legal authority, and the city council is not a parallel legal system,” she said. “Over the last several years, this issue has been litigated exhaustively. Not casually. Not partially. Exhaustively.”
The ClubLink saga has been litigated ‘exhaustively,’ said Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante, who voted against Wednesday’s motion. (Frédéric Pepin/CBC)City has spent $1.3 million
The years-long legal battle — in which the city has tried to argue that ClubLink should uphold an agreement made to an earlier owner that 40 per cent of the property must stay a public park — has seen the city spend about $1 million in legal fees, plus $300,000 in court costs to ClubLink, according to city solicitors.
In September, the Supreme Court declined to hear the city’s appeal after the Ontario Superior Court ruled ClubLink shouldn’t be “saddled with a perpetual obligation to run a golf course.”
On Tuesday, the Ontario Land Tribunal issued a final order approving a zoning bylaw amendment and a draft plan of subdivision allowing for the property’s development.
In its written order, the tribunal scolded the city for arguing against the amendment on the grounds that the development would “never proceed.”
The city’s position reflected disregard for the tribunal’s earlier interim order, something the tribunal found “both surprising and troubling.”
The tribunal also warned the city against thwarting the province’s planning directives.
Motion passed 21-3
“If the municipality imposes unreasonable terms or states non-support or intransigence on matters of infrastructure and facilities that it controls, this may amount to frustrating the PPS [Provincial Planning Statement] and provincial objectives on development and good planning,” it wrote.
ClubLink’s development partner Minto has already begun preparatory work on the site.
“Current activities are limited to snow clearing in select areas to prepare for soil testing and geotechnical analysis that will begin in February,” a spokesperson told CBC in an email.
“We remain committed to ensuring the project complies with all required approvals and regulations.”
Curry’s motion passed with 21 councillors in favour and three opposed.
In addition to Sutcliffe, councillors Tim Tierney, Glen Gower, Sean Devine, Laine Johnson, Theresa Kavanagh, Riley Brockington, Isabelle Skalski, Allan Hubley, Ariel Troster, Jeff Leiper, David Hill, Clarke Kelly, Marty Carr, Laura Dudas, Wilson Lo, Catherine Kitts, Rawlson King, Matthew Luloff, and David Brown also supported it.
Councillors Plante, Jessica Bradley and Shawn Menard voted against the motion.
