Is Barrie’s Allandale Train Station and its surrounding land now on the rails to redevelopment?
In January, the City of Barrie won a Superior Court of Justice summary judgment against Correct Group Inc. (CGI), ending a decade-long series of lawsuits that stifled development at the corner of Tiffin Street and Lakeshore Drive.
The judgment dismissed all claims by CGI against the city and its agents, beginning in late 2011, including breach of contract and bad-faith bargaining, relating to a failed 2009 development and purchase deal on the property.
The question now is what becomes of the restored train station and those nine acres of land.
Acting Mayor Barry Ward says it’s a commonly asked question.
“Over the years, I’ve attended many functions where Mayor (Jeff) Lehman was speaking. At the end, if he asked for questions from the public, I could guarantee one of the first ones would be ‘What is happening with the Allandale station?’” Ward told BarrieToday. “I think that indicates both the public’s great interest in the building and its frustration that little seemed to be happening.
“It’s safe to say that interest and frustration is shared by city council," Ward added.
This entire parcel of land includes Allandale Waterfront GO Station, the Allandale Train Station, restored for $4.5 million, and city property once slated for redevelopment.
A city staff memo outlining the most recent plans for Allandale Train Station’s redevelopment called for the city to finish the interior and exterior grounds and find someone to operate a restaurant in the former passenger depot at the end of the building. The central building would be turned into a modest meeting and event venue.
“That memo was more than six years ago,” Ward said. “Nothing has come of these plans, of course, because of the need to complete the archaeological work, which has taken much longer than expected but it is essential we get it right.”
He said the archaeological assessment and burial-site investigation work will continue this spring, in partnership with the Huron-Wendat Nation and the Williams Treaties First Nation communities, once the ground thaws and weather conditions permit.
“Until the archaeological assessment and burial-site investigation are completed, and the associated reports reviewed by the province, the city won’t know the impact on the potential redevelopment of the station,” Ward said. “The impact will depend on what is found as the work continues.”
The acting mayor said when the time comes to finally redevelop the land, he would expect the council of the day to revisit those 2015 plans to decide if they are still relevant.
“This would include whether to include a restaurant, whether there is some other use, whether any other buildings or facilities should be added to the property and whether the city should seek private partnerships,” Ward said. “The city has not formally gone out to the market to see if there is any interest. I am not aware of any informal inquiries.”
Ward notes CGI’s legal action did not impact the future use of the Allandale Train Station land, as the certificate of pending litigation was previously resolved through the courts, meaning the city was free to develop the land.
“I should note though that the recent court decision of Jan. 25, 2022 has now been appealed by CGI, but, as I said, this does not prevent the city from developing the lands,” he said.
CGI entered into an agreement with the city in 2009 to develop the Allandale Train Station site, along with the YMCA of Simcoe-Muskoka. The ‘Y’ pulled out in 2010, citing high financial risks. By that time, there were also environmental concerns and the discovery of Indigenous remains on the property requiring investigation.
In late 2011, CGI’s first legal action against the city became public — a multi-million-dollar lawsuit alleging breach of contract and bad-faith bargaining. Others followed, but two remained before the courts involving both the city as well as current or former city employees, Barrie councillors and contractors.
According to court documents, CGI asserted having suffered damages as a result of relying upon negligent misrepresentations. It claimed city officials failed to disclose the presence of contamination on the land and the possible presence of an Indigenous burial site, impeding its development. CGI also claimed in the lawsuits to have invested a great deal of money and resources on the project because of the information received from the city. None of the allegations were proven in court.
Ontario Regional Senior Judge Leonard Ricchetti, in his Jan. 25 Superior Court of Justice decision, gave his reasons why CGI’s claims were dismissed in their entirety.
“There is no evidence that any of the individual defendants were not acting in good faith or acting outside the scope of their duties or carried out their duties to Barrie for an improper or ulterior motive to deceive or harm CGI,” Ricchetti wrote in his decision. “There is no evidence that any of the individual defendants said or did anything contrary to what they believed was in Barrie’s best interests.
“At its highest, even if CGI’s allegations are accepted, CGI claims could at most be negligence, omission or recklessness — none of which I accept — in not disclosing the potential environmental/archeological issues to CGI," Ricchetti added. “But more is required to establish a lack of good faith. That ‘more’ is entirely missing in this case.”
Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General says a summary judgment provides a mechanism in cases where there is "no genuine issue for trial" for all or part of a claim to be disposed of in a summary manner, without a full trial.
Until the claims against the city were settled, in court or outside of it, the likelihood of further substantial development on this land near Barrie’s waterfront was unlikely — even though the lawsuits no longer made a claim against the land itself years ago.
Time will tell if or when that changes.
