Construction on the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park has been delayed until at least the fall while the city continues to deal with a lawsuit filed by the Friends of Lansdowne.
The lawsuit alleges the city broke its own procurement rules when it awarded the redevelopment contract to Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group without having an open competition.
The court date to hear the case was supposed to take place in April. It's now been pushed back to June.
Coun. Rick Chiarelli, who supported the Lansdowne bid, told CTV Ottawa the delay doesn't hinder the city's plans.
"The court delay does not technically prevent us from constructing if we wanted to. There is no injunction stopping us from starting construction tomorrow, if we wanted to do that," Chiarelli said on Tuesday.
"The thing is, we're refining our designs at this point and it happens to work well with our schedule to wait until September to start construction, so we reached that agreement with the other parties."
The city solicitor expects the court to make a decision on the case by mid-summer. The city says it's factored in legal challenges and a delay of a few extra months shouldn't have a serious impact on the timeline for the overall project.
The city also says the CFL is aware of the delay, and it won't impact bringing a franchise to Ottawa.
The redevelopment plan will overhaul the stadium at Lansdowne Park, bring retail and housing to the site and create an urban park on Lansdowne's front lawn.
