A report set to be released next week recommends the city begin construction work at Lansdowne Park, even though it is still awaiting a court ruling on whether their contract is legal.
The report suggests the city should begin remediating contaminated land and work on the Horticultural building.
“These are all things that we have the legal right to proceed with” said Mayor Jim Watson. “Lansdowne Park needs a major revitalization… One of the things we want to proceed with once council gives us that approval at committee next week, and council the next week is the Coliseum building. It’s at the end of its life cycle. You can’t even go up to the second floor in the Coliseum because it’s condemned.”
He said the work needs to be done regardless of the court hearing.
“We believe instead of us continually waiting month after month, we’ve got to get on with this project,” said Watson. “Those parts of the project that we can do legally and that we have the authority to do as a council, that are stand alone from OSEG (Ontario Sports and Entertainment Group) and the court ruling, then let’s get it done.”
It still isn’t clear how long it will take the Superior Court to decide whether the city was wrong when it sole-sourced the contract for the redevelopment plan out to the OSEG.
The city did send a letter to the court last month, asking when it could expect a decision. The court has yet to answer.
“We got a mandate, and this council got a mandate last election to get on with the revitalization of Lansdowne,” Watson added.