City of Barrie officials are hoping the long and winding legal road emanating from lawsuits around the Allandale Train Station will finally come to an end in the new year.
Lawyers for the city are set to argue a motion for a summary judgment in January.
“If successful, all outstanding claims against the city will be at an end,” said Scott Lamantia, the city's senior communications advisor.
At this point, however, the Correct Group is indicating it’s not going down without a fight.
Lawyer John Finnigan said the Correct Group’s response to the city’s application fills 10 volumes.
“We had a schedule for the remaining examinations of the parties and some motions to be completed in 2020. We would then be in a position to ask for a trial date,” Finnigan said in an email. “Unfortunately, the COVID crisis has thrown us off our schedule and it will have to be redone once things open up again.”
The dispute is rooted in the restoration of the historic building along Lakeshore Drive at the foot of Kempenfelt Bay, which dates back more than a century as a stop on the old Grand Trunk Railway.
The Correct Group Inc. entered into an agreement with the city in 2009 to develop the nine-acre site. The YMCA of Simcoe-Muskoka, also part of the initial project, pulled out in 2010, finding that the financial risks were too high. By that time, there were environmental concerns and discovery of Indigenous remains on the property required investigation.
Later that year, the Correct Group launched its first legal action against the city with a $28-million lawsuit alleging breach of contract and bad faith. Others followed, but two remain before the courts involving both the city as well as current or former city representatives, councillors and contractors.
According to court documents, the Correct Group asserts having suffered damages as a result of relying upon negligent misrepresentations. They claim city officials failed to disclose the presence of contamination on the land and the possible presence of an Indigenous burial site, impeding its development.
In their lawsuits, the Correct Group claims to have invested a great deal of money and resources on the project because of the information they received from the city.
The Allandale Train Station now sits dormant and inactive, surrounded by construction fencing, although the GO train marks its most northerly stop on adjacent land under the similarly named Allandale Waterfront GO Station.
And even though those lawsuits no longer make a claim against the land and doesn’t prevent development, an archaeological assessment on the site is ongoing, which has put any decisions about the use of the Allandale Train Station land on hold, Lamantia said.
