Lansdowne Park deal unlawful: lawyer

The City of Ottawa will be breaking its own procurement bylaws if it finalizes a deal with a group of Ottawa businessmen to redevelop Lansdowne Park without competitive bidding, an Ottawa lawyer says.

"Council has an obligation to comply with its rules in this case rules about procurement that make it virtually a requirement in all cases to engage in some kind of competitive bidding process," said Steven Shrybman, a lawyer with the firm Sack GoldblattMitchell LLP who specializes in public interest litigation.

Shrybman provided his legal opinion to city council after being hired to look into the matter by Friends of Lansdowne Park, a group opposed to the redevelopment plan for the 16-hectare city-owned property on Bank Street.

City council is set to vote Monday on whether to approve the design and financial details of the public-private partnership with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, which submitted an unsolicited bid for the project. It plans to bring a Canadian Football League team and to build shops, condos and restaurants at the site. The city's contribution would be to renovate and upgrade the site's football stadium and hockey arena.

Coun. Rick Chiarelli said the city's legal team has already examined the deal to ensure it followed the city's procurement bylaw "to the T" and also hired an outside law firm for a second opinion.

"They've all concluded that we've followed exactly what we're supposed to follow," he said.

Chiarelli questioned the timing of the document so close to Monday's vote.

"It's clearly politically motivated," he said. "It reeks like the finest cheese sold in the Glebe."

Judicial review underway

However, the deal already faces a court challenge from an Ottawa businessman. John Martin was granted a judicial review last fall by the Ontario Superior Court of the way the Lansdowne Park redevelopment plan was procured.

Martintold CBC News on Saturday that Shrybman's conclusions are similar to his own.

"They've raised some more interesting points, and there's some interesting data that's very useful to me as well, from the research that's been done."

Martin has already met twice with the chief justice and plans to incorporate some of Shrybman's research in the compilation of evidence to support his case, which must be submitted to the court by mid-September prior to a hearing.