Lansdowne plan faces court challenge

A proposal to build condominium towers, townhomes, shops, cafs and restaurants at a redeveloped Lansdowne Park will be challenged in court after an Ottawa businessman Wednesday persuaded a judge to conduct a judicial review of the plan.

The Lansdowne Live plan is a public-private partnership between the city and the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group.

If it proceeds, the city would continue to own the site on the east side of Bank Street along the north shore of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa's Glebe neighbourhood, just south of downtown. But it would offer a 30-year lease to the group, which would contribute $125 million, matching the city's own contribution.

Glebe businessman John Martin thinks the proposal breaks the city's bylaws.

The papers Martin delivered at City Hall on Wednesday came as a surprise to almost everyone.

Martin didn't even have a lawyer representing him, but he was able to persuade the court to conduct a judicial review of the Lansdowne Live project.

'Affront' to purchasing practice?

Martin based his arguments on Bylaw 50, which says any project over $100,000 needs to be open to competitive bidding. Lansdowne Live, Martin said, is a cozy insider deal that's bad for the city.

"What's happening right now is an affront to good purchasing practice, it's an affront to legal procedure and it's an affront to finding good value, best value for the citizens of Ottawa," Martin said.

"Sole-sourcing is something that's seen with a great sense of distaste by Canadians," he said.

'It is a terrible proposal on so many levels.' Ian Lee, Carleton program director

Ian Lee, director of the MBA program at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, said Martin's legal arguments tap into a growing public discomfort with inside-track deals that shut out competitive bidders.

He hopes the Lansdowne Live deal, which appeared to be a fait accompli, will now be set aside by court order.

"It is a terrible proposal on so many levels. It's terrible on the ethical level, the sole-source level, in terms of the finances of the deal. And so we've got to start over," Lee said.

The date set for the judicial review is Nov. 12. Martin said he'll now try to get an injunction to freeze the Lansdowne Live project until the court can decide on it.

This may cause a change of plans for the city, which plans to hold about half a dozen town hall meetings across the city between Sept. 21 and 25, as well as an online forum on the Lansdowne Partnership Plan before the proposal goes back to city council in November.