The City of Guelph’s dispute with a real estate developer won’t be going to trial.
The city’s dispute with Urbacon dates back to 2008, when it dismissed the company from its work on Guelph’s new city hall.
At the time, Mayor Karen Farbridge said the project was behind schedule and terminating Urbacon’s involvement was in the best interests of city taxpayers.
In the wake of that dismissal, Urbacon filed a $19-million lawsuit against the city, which counter-sued for $5 million.
In April, a judge ruled in the contractor’s favour, saying the city didn’t have the right to fire Urbacon.
The case was expected to go to trial this fall, but that was nixed Monday when word came down that the two sides had reached a deal.
Under the terms of the agreement, the city will pay Urbacon $6.6 million.
“It’s good news for our community that this is over,” Mayor Karen Farbridge said outside council chambers.
“We have been able to avoid those costs of another court hearing date and focus on finding an agreement.”
Guelph CAO Ann Pappert said the city would be looking back at how it handled the situation to see if there were any “lessons learned” from the case.
“I’ve asked the internal auditor to do a complete review of some of our complex capital projects – this one in particular,” she said.
With legal costs, the total deficit on the project stands at $8.3 million.
City councillors voted Monday night to use funds from reserves to cover the costs to the municipality.
