LEGAL SERVICES BRIEFING NOTE / NOTE SOMMAIRE DE SERVICES JURIDIQUES

To / Destinataire From / Expditeur Subject / Objet Mayor and Members of Council M. Rick OConnor THE COLISEUM INC. RENTAL AGREEMENT FOR INFLATABLE DOME File/N de fichier: Date: December 7, 2012

The purpose of this memorandum is to advise on the status of negotiations between the City of Ottawa and The Coliseum Inc. (Coliseum) for the transfer of an inflatable soccer dome that was previously located at Lansdowne Park to a University of Ottawa (University) sports field located at 200 Lees Avenue. Appreciating that most of the negotiations are undertaken on a confidential basis, I can advise that, in summary, the Parties were unable to reach an agreement and The Coliseum Inc. has referred the matter to arbitration. BACKGROUND As some Councillors may recall, the negotiations between the Parties have been ongoing for approximately one year following Councils approval of the tripartite arrangement with the University, Coliseum and the City on December 14th, 2011. Under the proposed Use and Occupancy Agreement (Agreement) that the City had prepared for signing with The Coliseum Inc., it was anticipated that the dome could be installed and ready for use by November 15th, 2012. The Coliseum Inc. would not agree to the Citys version of the Use and Occupancy Agreement, and also insisted on a signed agreement prior to installing the inflatable dome. City staff advised The Coliseum Inc. that the terms of the Use and Occupancy Agreement represented the best terms that could be obtained from the University of Ottawa and required that a signed version of the Agreement be returned by November 21st, 2012. On or about November 21st, 2012, The Coliseum Inc. responded to this letter by advising its clients that the dome would not be installed and returning the various deposits that had been collected for the 2012/2013 dome season. In doing so, it was alleged that the City had terminated the negotiations, an allegation that City staff promptly denied. In the days that followed, City staff made various attempts to contact The Coliseum Inc. to determine whether they considered that negotiations were, in fact, at an end. With no response from The Coliseum Inc., and based on public statements made by Coliseum representatives, City staff believed that the three key issues preventing The Coliseum Inc. from signing the Agreement were still negotiable. In the days that followed, staff worked hard with representatives from the University to address these outstanding issues. Upon obtaining revised terms, these newly negotiated terms were communicated to The Coliseum Inc. in a letter dated November 29th, 2012.

Following that letter, City staff was contacted by The Coliseum Inc. and arrangements were made for a meeting on Monday, December 3rd, 2012. At that meeting, the representatives of The Coliseum Inc. raised additional issues that they believed required further negotiations between the Parties. Over the next two days, City staff again negotiated further with other partners and issued another, revised set of terms to The Coliseum Inc. in a letter dated December 5 th, 2012. In that letter, the City advised that The Coliseum Inc. needed to let the City know whether it was now prepared to sign the Agreement and proceed with the installation of the dome next week. The deadline for responding was 4:00 p.m. today. Regrettably, The Coliseum Inc. advised us earlier today that they will not accept the Citys most recent proposal. NEXT STEPS This matter will proceed to arbitration as provided for in the existing Agreement. As this matter has now moved into the realm of litigation, there will be no further updates until such time as the litigation has been concluded. I trust that this information is satisfactory.

M. Rick OConnor /js