Activist drops court bid to quash casino rezoning

Brady says city dragged its feet long enough to prevent court injuction

Local activist Roy Brady says he has dropped his application to have the court quash a rezoning that allowed a casino to be built in the city.

Shorelines Casino Peterborough is under construction now on Crawford Drive at The Parkway. Construction began in early September. The casino is expected open later this year.

Last spring, Brady applied for an interim court injunction to stop construction from getting underway or else force it to stop in the early stages.

Brady’s court application argued that city councillors chose the casino site in an illegal closed meeting in November 2015.

Following a complaint, an investigator ruled that the councillors’ discussion about the casino location should have been held in public.

Yet councillors directed city staff to start the rezoning of the property on Crawford Drive, following that meeting in 2015.

Although Brady filed his application to Oshawa court in late May, there was no date available in 2018. He later applied to Toronto court, but no date was set.

Now the construction on the casino is so far advanced that Brady says he won’t pursue the matter further.

“It’s just too late,” he said. “The city dragged its feet and it ended up working for them.”

By that he meant the city delayed filing its court documents while casino construction by the developer and future operator, B.C.-based Great Canadian Gaming, was progressing quickly.

City solicitor Patricia Lester couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday evening. Neither could city CAO Allan Seabrooke.

But Mayor Daryl Bennett said it was news to him on Tuesday evening that Brady was dropping his application.

When asked whether the city actually “dragged its feet” in filing its court documents, Bennett said Brady is free to make any comment he pleases.

“But I would disagree with the statement,” he said, adding that there were “prescribed timelines” for the city to file its court documents in response to Brady’s. “I would suggest we would comply.”