A provincial inquiry officer has ordered the City of Calgary to reimburse residents of the expropriated River Run condos in Eau Claire nearly $311,000 to support their legal fees. Read More
Provincial inquiry officer criticizes communication from City of Calgary
Provincial inquiry officer criticizes communication from City of Calgary
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A provincial inquiry officer has ordered the City of Calgary to reimburse residents of the expropriated River Run condos in Eau Claire nearly $311,000 to support their legal fees.
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The order from Sharon Roberts came April 9 in a 23-page ruling that determined the city ought to pay the former River Run property owners $310,935.04, based on an assessment of the total legal fees associated with the inquiry they launched in the summer of 2023.
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“In closing, I assess the total costs of the inquiry, comprised of the reasonable charges to the River Run owners by their jointly retained legal counsel connected with the inquiry, inclusive of costs to advance their collective claim for costs payable by the city, at $310,935.04,” Roberts wrote.
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The amount covers 85 per cent of legal fees the former homeowners incurred for carrying out the inquiry process, according to Patrick Lindsay, who lived in the riverfront condos for seven years and has become a spokesperson for the group of 20 former condo owners.
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“That substantially covers the cost of going through the process, which we needed to identify the city’s process was very unfair,” he told Postmedia.
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The city expropriated the River Run townhomes, which were located between Prince’s Island Park and the Eau Claire Market mall, in 2023, after four years of failed negotiations with all but three of the unit owners.
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The acquisition of the riverfront property was to accommodate a station for the Green Line LRT project.
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In 2023, most of the homeowners objected to the expropriation process, triggering a provincial inquiry that summer to investigate whether the city’s intended expropriation was fair, sound and necessary.
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City of Calgary’s communication in condo land acquisition for Green Line insufficient
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In her summary of that inquiry, Roberts, who oversaw a three-day hearing, criticized the city’s communication with River Run residents throughout the land acquisition process and concluded that the city “failed to communicate transparently and as a party with great power ought to communicate with a key stakeholder about the likely acquisition of the River Run lands.”
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She also ruled the city “ought to pay the objecting landowners’ reasonable costs in connection with this inquiry,” arguing the municipality had left the residents “in limbo” for a number of years.
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However, Lindsay claimed the city balked at paying that amount, offering instead to pay roughly half.