West Island developers sue Montreal, mayor for $178M over Great Western Park project

Three groups of developers that had planned tobuild homes in what's now slated to become a 3,000-hectare park in the West Island are suing the City of Montreal and other municipal playersfor more than $175 million, for what they describe as "disguised expropriation."

The application was filed last Friday at the Montreal courthouse.

The lawsuit targets the city,the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough, Montreal Mayor Valrie Plante and Plante's party, Projet Montral.

The developers,Dveloppements Pierrefonds Inc., Les Immeubles L'querre Inc. and Quartier de l'Ouest de l'le, had plans to turn 360 hectares inwestern Pierrefonds into a new residential neighbourhoodcalledCap Nature Pierrefonds Ouest. The project was set to include5,500 housing units, schools, daycares and sports fields.

While some of that land is already zoned residential, Plante announced in August the city will include all of it in a project aimed at preserving West Island wetlands and containing flooding. That green space, nine times the size of New York City's Central Park, is known for now asthe Great Western Park.

The developers say that proposalhas destroyed 14 years of their efforts and investment.

"Mayor Plante and the city are acting illegally, arbitrarily, impulsively, abusively and prejudicially," the document obtained by Radio-Canada says.

The developers criticize the mayor for spreading "clearly falseand alarmist information" by saying their land is in a flood zone.

They claim the objective wasto "intentionally tarnish the promoters' reputation and the Cap Nature Projectand intentionally cause damage to the proponents by raising public discontent in order to intentionally frustrate the project and affect the value of the lands."

A spokesperson for the City of Montreal said Tuesday the city would not comment on the lawsuit, but itintends to go ahead with the park project.

Ali Argunis the lawyer representing the developers. He said the clients are seeking compensation for the market value of their property.

"There's always room for compromise," Argun said."It's always preferable that the parties speak to each other and come to an amicable solution."

He said the developers were approached by the city 14 years ago to constructan "eco-responsible"project that included strict requirements, such asaffordable housing, green spaces and green infrastructure.

"Everything that needed to be put into place to ensure that this project would be a model for development in the province of Quebec," Argun said.

Argun's clients accepted the terms, only to find out about the Great Western Park in August, he said.

"After 14 years to have the rug pulled out from under them, my clients are understandably surprised," Argun said.