Court battle between city, owner of old hospital to be heard next year

A court battle launched by the owner of the former General and Plummer hospital sites seeking to stop the City of Sault Ste. Marie from enforcing an “illegal” part of its own property standards bylaw won’t be heard until sometime next year. 

The Superior Court of Justice heard Thursday that legal counsel for the city has put forward a draft order, laying out an agreed-upon timetable for the court case to move ahead. 

It’s now up to lawyers for both sides to contact the court’s trial coordinator in order to set a date for a hearing in the new year.   

“We have a significant amount of work in the Superior Court of Justice right now, and I don’t want hearing dates to be wasted,” said Justice Annalisa Rasaiah during motions court. 

As SooToday first reported, Leisure Meadows Community Living Inc. is seeking a court injunction to stop the City of Sault Ste. Marie from enforcing provisions within its property standards bylaw regarding vacant, demolished and damaged buildings. 

According to court documents, the city slapped the Vaughan, Ont. company with a pair of notices for the waterfront properties in November of last year, ordering Leisure Meadows to provide security personnel to monitor the buildings — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — and to keep records. 

The company was also ordered to show the city proof it had obtained no less than $2 million worth of liability insurance for each building. 

But the real estate developer claims the Building Code Act contains no provisions for vacant buildings, let alone obtaining “insurance, monitoring or security personnel.”

On top of requesting a court-ordered injunction to stop the the City of Sault Ste. Marie from enforcing its property standards bylaw, Leisure Meadows also wants a declaration from the city stating that the portion of its bylaw dealing with vacant buildings is “vague, illegal and unenforceable.” 

City council voted in favour of looking at tougher enforcement efforts at 941 and 995 Queen St. E. — including possible demolition of the decrepit buildings — during a December 2022 council meeting. 

Demolition is estimated to cost about $6 million, with additional costs for expropriation, insurance and environmental liabilities. 

Woodbridge, Ont. developer Italo Ferrari — the general manager for Leisure Meadows Community Living Inc., and the public face and spokesperson for the former hospital properties — faced tough questioning from councillors during the same council meeting as he acknowledged the ongoing problems at the waterfront site. 

Ferrari also managed to cause a stir during that council meeting when he likened a potential fencing-in of the former general hospital site to a “concentration camp” while answering questions from Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker about ongoing break-ins at the former hospital buildings.  

The real estate developer would later apologize publicly for the “inappropriate and offensive” remarks.

In May, property restoration crews were seen boarding up the former General Hospital site after the city hit Leisure Meadows with an order to remedy violation for failing to secure the building and cover up openings and busted windows.