Council wrong to let staff OK conditions for Château addition: heritage group

City council can’t legally delegate a staffer to approve the conditions of a conditional heritage permit like it did with the Château Laurier’s planned addition, Heritage Ottawa argues in a court application filed Monday morning.

The heritage advocacy group, which has been fundraising for the court challenge, is trying to stop the controversial addition to the landmark hotel from happening.

Larco Investments owns the hotel. The company is planning a seven-storey addition to the north side of the heritage building and the design, which has gone through several iterations, has been under public scrutiny for three years.

The final design has received public scorn, with opponents lamenting the proposed boxy addition as being too much of an architectural departure from the castle-like hotel.

When council voted on July 10 against revoking Larco’s heritage permit for the hotel addition, Heritage Ottawa indicated it would consider legal options in an attempt to halt the project.

The group’s court application was filed by lawyer Michael Polowin, a municipal law expert.

The allegations in the lawsuit haven’t been proven in court.

The city was served with the lawsuit Monday but didn’t comment.

“In keeping with its standard practice, the city does not comment on matters that are currently before the courts, so as not to prejudice those proceedings,” city solicitor David White said in an email relayed by the communications department.

Heritage Ottawa wants a judge to quash council’s resolution that delegated the authority to staff to sign off on the heritage permit for the hotel addition.

A June 27, 2018, council decision

approved a heritage permit as long at the hotel owner increased limestone, broke up the north facade and added more elements similar to the hotel. When it came to meeting those conditions, council left the final decision up to the city’s planning general manager, Stephen Willis, who signed off on the changes.

In its court application, Heritage Ottawa says the general manager didn’t have the authority to approve the conditions because it was outside the scope of the city’s delegated authority bylaw when it comes to the amount of gross floor area of the heritage-related project. Heritage Ottawa also argues in its court application that, under the Ontario Heritage Act, council can’t delegate authority to staff to approve conditions of heritage permits.

Larco reps are scheduled to be in front of the committee of adjustment on Wednesday to ask for minor variances required for the 147-room expansion project. The National Capital Commission board of directors is also expected to receive a report on the project this fall. Larco has been aiming to start excavation by the end of 2019. jwilling@postmedia.com twitter.com/JonathanWilling