The future of an abandoned Tim Hortons at the corner of Eagle and King streets could rest with a decision from the Ontario Land Tribunal.
A case management meeting has been scheduled at the OLT this month to discuss a dispute between the previous franchise owner and the Region of Waterloo that has held the property in limbo for more than four years.
C.V. Wakely Investments Ltd. is seeking arbitration at the OLT over $462,000 it claims it's owed by the region for "damages and business loss" related to road construction.
The company claims the expropriation of three of its 18 parking spots led to a decision to close the location in December 2020 due to plummeting sales.
C.V. Wakely is the same company fighting the region for damages it believes it's owed from King Street reconstruction project at its Bishop and King street location.
There is no update for that claim.
A case management meeting was expected to go ahead this week for the abandoned Tims at 303 King St. E, nearly a year after the claim was filed with the tribunal.
Taking land from private owners is common practice of governments when they need it for public projects. Land owners are then compensated.
The company was paid a fee for losing three parking spots, but they claim it's not close to enough compensation for what happened.
In a reply to the statement of claim, the region says C.V. Wakely has no entitlement to compensation and says the company's losses had nothing to do with the King Street reconstruction.
The region says it expropriated the parking spots from 303 King Street East in 2015 to create a temporary easement related to the Fountain Street improvement project. The region denies the expropriation was for a permanent easement.
Work on Fountain Street was substantially completed in 2017 and fully completed in 2018 except for a few evenings of work that occurred in the autumn of 2020, the region claims.
The region says the company has no right to compensation for the King Street East reconstruction, which was an "entirely different project that began in 2019" and happened east of the Tim Hortons.
The region also says C.V. Wakely wasn't the registered owner when it expropriated the parking spaces in 2015. Tim Donut Ltd. had a notice of lease registered to the subject property and had it since 1986.
The region is asking for the case to be dismissed and wants all costs incurred to be covered by C.V. Wakely.
