Not surprisingly off-site liability
concerns are often a significant stumbling block to Brownfield
redeveloped. After all what developer would purchase a property with known clean-up costs
on-site, but unknown off-site liabilities?
However two recent court rulings in Ontario cases involving off-site contamination, resulted in decisions going against
the innocent property owners, whose sites were contaminated by the activities occurring on nearby sites. While it
is unlikely that these cases will result in more Brownfields being
redeveloped in the province they have caught the attention of many in the
industry.
1. In October 2011 the Ontario Court of
Appeal overturned an earlier decision by the Ontario Superior Court in Smith
vs Inco Limited, which had awarded $36,000,000 in damages to 7000
property owners in Port Colborne, Ontario, due to soil contamination caused by
nickel particles emitted from Inco’s refinery. (see my blog post from
October 18, 2011)
 |
| Kawartha Lakes, Ontario |
2. In June 2012 the Ontario Divisional Court
upheld a Ministry of Environment (MOE) order requiring the City of Kawartha
Lakes to clean-up city owned property contaminated by a residential homeowner's
furnace oil spill. The MOE's order deemed that protecting the environment
took precedent over the innocent victim's (the City's) rights. (see Dianne Saxe's blog for an excellent analysis)
