The fight over the future of the Kanata Golf and Country Club is heading to Canada’s highest court. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe told a town hall meeting the City of Ottawa will appeal the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. Last month, the Ontario court dismissed the city’s appeal of an Ontario Superior Court decision that declared a 1981 agreement to keep 40 per cent of the property as green space as “inoperative.” “It’s not about golf; it’s about an agreement that is no longer valid and that’s not right,” Kanata Coun. Cathy Curry told CTV News Ottawa Tuesday night. “If the Supreme Court is about justice, then this is the case the Supreme Court needs to hear.” The fight over the future of the Kanata Golf and Country Club goes back to 2018, when the course’s owner ClubLink announced plans to build approximately 1,500 homes on the property. ClubLink and its developers, Minto Communities and Richcraft Homes, promised a new community with homes and a minimum 25 per cent greenspace. The city and residents have pointed to a 1981 agreement between the former City of Kanata and the former owner of the course, Campeau Corporation, that states 40 per cent of the area must be kept as open space. In 2021, the city did win a court challenge when the Ontario Superior Court ruled the 40 per cent green space agreement “continues to be a valid and binding contract.” The Ontario Court of Appeal reversed the decision, and the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the city’s application to appeal. Last month, the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the City of Ottawa’s appeal of a court ruling in 2023 that declared the 1981 agreement requiring 40 per cent of the property to be kept as open space “inoperative.” The ruling also declared the 1981 agreement “to be considered void.” The ruling pointed to a decision by the Ontario Land Tribunal in 2022 that the proposed redevelopment of the golf course lands is “consistent with both the city’s Official Plan, and the public interest.” In a memo to Council, City Solicitor Stuart Huxley says he has considered its “proper” to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. “Voiding municipal contract provisions raises questions of significant public interest and importance as ultimately this is about upholding the decisions made by elected municipal councils, past, present, and future, and ensuring that the contractual commitments made with municipalities in good faith are respected,” Huxley said. “Municipalities must be able to make long-term decisions through agreements with confidence that they will be binding to allow for long term policy and planning objectives to endure. Allowing the current ruling to stand could have far reaching consequences for municipal governance, contract enforcement, and public trust in these decision-making and implementation processes.” Residents say the fight is not over. “Tonight’s message from Mayor Sutcliffe gave us hope,” Ryanna Bowling, a resident of Beaverbrook, told CTV News Ottawa. “We came into this town hall not knowing what was the next step and looking for leadership and hearing that the city has support and is going to be going to the Supreme Court, it’s inspiring. It means that the city supports us and knows that this issue is one of integrity.” Barbara Ramsay of the Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition said they are “impressed” the city is going to fight. “We are very, very impressed that the city did the due diligence and has been actually able to come to this important conclusion so quickly,” Ramsay said. Marilyn Archer, whose home backs onto the 14th tee, said she has lived in her home for 20 years. “We’ve walked the dogs, we have skied, we have tobogganed on the hill back there with our grandkids. And now that’s all could be taken away from us,” she said. But she is hopeful the city’s fight will be successful. “I had a great sense of hope. I really do. I think people are very upset and we’re going to fight this to the end.” Curry says the city and the Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition expect to be waiting at least six months to hear from the Supreme Court of Canada on the issue. “We have 60 days to make sure we put in our leave application to the Supreme Court, so we will work with the Greenspace Protection Coalition lawyers,” Curry said, noting the City Solicitor listened to elected officials and reviewed the case. “The City Solicitor made the decision this is the best interest of the city and the entire country. The test for the Supreme Court that the City Solicitor had to determine was this public interest is this national interest and he determined it was.” Huxley says if the Supreme Court of Canada decides not to hear the cause, it would “end this litigation.” ClubLink acquired the property in 1997. --With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Kimberley Fowler
