A successful appeal at Ontario’s top court could pave the way for ClubLink to proceed with a redevelopment of the Kanata Golf and Country Club, but the City of Ottawa’s legal team sees room in the ruling to maintain the legacy protections on the site’s green space.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario released a decision Friday stating that it had sided with the golf course owner in a dispute over whether a 1981 agreement involving the former municipality of Kanata (before its amalgamation into the city of Ottawa) applied to its proposal to redevelop the land with 1,500-home subdivision.
That agreement held that 40 per cent of green space in the Kanata Lakes neighbourhood must be protected from future development, with the golf course land included in the pie. It also said that the owner must first offer to hand the land over to the city if it doesn’t want to run a golf course on the site anymore.
In February of this year, Superior Court Justice Marc Labrosse had sided with residents of the Kanata area and the City of Ottawa’s legal team in upholding those protections — a move ClubLink subsequently appealed.
Justice Lois B. Roberts wrote in the decision released Friday that she felt the original judge erred in his interpretation of the 1981 agreement and found ClubLink’s appeal valid.
Specifically, the appeal court found fault with Labrosse’s interpretation of the land conveyance aspects of the agreement and ruled that those provisions couldn’t be upheld 40 years on from the original deal.
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This where the city and community advocates see room for interpretation in the decision.
Ottawa’s city solicitor David White said in a memo to city council late Friday afternoon that there’s nothing in the appeal decision that invalidates the 40-per-cent green space protections.
Under White’s interpretation of the appeal court’s decision, ClubLink would still have to either continue operating the golf course, offer the city the first right of refusal on any possible sale and make sure any other interested buyer also respects the 1981 agreement.
In other words, ClubLink’s proposed subdivision still couldn’t replace the Kanata Golf and Country Club.
White did caution that the appeal court ruling “may” affect other aspects of the agreement.
If ClubLink, the city and other parties such as the Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition (KGPC) also listed in the action can’t come to a consensus on how the rest of the agreement plays out from here, the matter could be remitted to the original Justice Labrosse.
White said he will also be seeking to take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada for a higher opinion.
Mayor Jim Watson said on Twitter Friday morning that he was “greatly disappointed” in the appeal court’s decision, but added that the fight wasn’t over.
Watson said he would ask Ontario’s Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark to step in to secure protections for the site as his office recently did for the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, which is also owned by ClubLink.
Global News reached out to Clark’s office for comment on Friday but did not hear back.
For its part, the KGPC said in a statement Friday it was “deeply disappointed and frustrated” by the appeal court’s decision but said it will continue to defend the coveted community green space. The coalition also pointed to the still-valid 40-per-cent agreement as a sticking point in the ruling.
Former city councillor and Kanata—Carleton MP Jenna Sudds expressed her disappointment over the decision on Friday, as did her newly appointed successor in Kanata North, Coun. Cathy Curry.
Both said the fight will continue.
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