The long legal saga of Barrie’s Allandale Train Station land appears to have ended.
Now its redevelopment can resume.
The City of Barrie has won a summary judgment against Correct Group Inc. (CGI), ending a decade-long series of lawsuits that have stifled development on the Allandale Train Station land near the waterfront.
The summary judgment dismisses 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 land at the corner of Tiffin Street and Lakeshore Drive.
“I think the lawsuit… cast a shadow on planning for the future of the site, including for local groups or businesses who might have wanted to be part of the future use of the station,” said Mayor Jeff Lehman. “With this decision, that shadow is lifted.”
Until the claims against the city were settled, in court or outside of it, the likelihood of further substantial development on the land was unlikely — even though the lawsuits no longer made a claim against the land itself years ago.
Lehman noted a June 2013 court decision discharged a certificate of pending litigation from the Allandale Train Station land, allowing for its redevelopment, as the lawsuits were no longer about title of that specific property.
The entire parcel of land includes the Allandale Waterfront GO Station, the restored Allandale Train Station and city property once slated for redevelopment.
Ontario Regional Senior Judge Leonard Ricchetti, in his Superior Court of Justice decision handed down Jan. 25, 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," the judge 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.
City spokesperson Scott LaMantia said in June 2021 that the city had attended court approximately 30 times since CGI initiated the lawsuit, and in 2019 Barrie brought a motion to dismiss all of CGI’s claims.
Alan Furbacher, of CGI, could not be reached for comment Wednesday by BarrieToday.
Lehman said Tuesday’s court decision is significant for Barrie, and for him.
“This lawsuit has taken a lot of time and city resources,” he said. “As someone who was also named personally (in the lawsuit), I am obviously very happy to finally have this resolved and for all claims to be dismissed.
“The city never backed down from this lawsuit because we know we acted properly and I’m pleased that the courts agreed," the mayor added.
Lehman said settling the claims out of court was never the right option.
“The short answer is it would have been wrong to do that, especially with taxpayer money,” he said. “The city has, from the very beginning, been steadfast that we acted properly. I am pleased that the courts agreed with the city’s position.”
CGI entered into an agreement with the city in 2009 to develop the nine-acre 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 claims 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.
The City of Barrie has four weeks to file submissions for costs against CGI and Lehman said the city intends to do this.
Lehman, former Barrie councillors Alex Nuttall, Jennifer Robinson, Jerry Moore and Michael Prowse (now the city’s chief administrative officer), former city employees Jon Babulic, Richard Forward, Janet Foster, Edward Archer and Deborah McKinnon, city employee Ingrid Peters, city agents Charles Magwood, Robert Stewart, Indicom Appraisal Associates and Metrolinx, and the Corporation of the City of Barrie were the defendants. CGI and the Correct Building Corporation, a related company, were the plaintiffs.
The Stage 4 archaeology investigation at the historic Allandale Train Station, underway since 2019, will be continuing in the spring of 2022, Lehman said. This work is being done in partnership with the Huron-Wendat Nation and the Williams Treaty First Nation communities. The study includes both the archaeological assessment and burial site investigation.
So far, approximately 1,900 cubic metres of soil has been either hand dug or mechanically excavated and thoroughly screened by the AECOM archaeology team, Lehman said.
As the study continues in 2022, the city will continue its work with the Huron-Wendat Nation and the Williams Treaty First Nation and the team of archaeologists at AECOM to thoroughly investigate the long-standing historical significance of the Allandale Train Station site.
Some of the site has been cleared of the need for further archaeological testing, including the area closer to Essa Road, where the transit hub will be built in 2022.
