The City of Laval would have sold the land where promoter Michel Trudel’s $200 million film studio complex is to be built at more than a 40% discount, allege new court documents filed by opponents of the project.
“Trudel benefits from a price that is too low and from advantageous conditions that are disproportionate to the advantages it derives from the acquisition of the Land, the City’s approach having here also the effect of favoring private interest to the detriment of the public interest.”
The land on avenue Marcel-Villeneuve sold by the City of Laval to Trudel Studios in April 2023 for the sum of $32.1 million.
Photo Olivier Faucher
This is what we can now read in the amended version, dating from last Wednesday, of a lawsuit which was filed for the first time in Superior Court in the spring by the Coalition Mobilisations Citoyennes Environnementales de Laval and four residents of Laval district of Saint-François.
The appeal for judicial review aims to invalidate municipal regulations which gave the green light to the Trudel Studios project, a future film studio complex from promoter Michel Trudel valued at $200 million.
“Illicit subsidy” at $24 million?
The City of Laval had, in a promise to purchase dated April 21, 2023, sold to the developer Michel Trudel a cultivable land which belonged to him on avenue Marcel-Villeneuve, in the east of the City, for the sum of 32 $.1 million. This is where the project is to be built.
Michel Trudel, promoter of the Trudel Studios project, during the extraordinary meeting of the City of Laval on the project, last January.
Archive photo, Olivier Faucher
But according to what the legal proceedings now allege, the value of this land was rather estimated at $56.1 million at the time of signing the promise to purchase, or $24 million more.
This conclusion, reached by approved assessors mandated by the plaintiffs, must be presented during the hearing of this case.
The price from which the promoter benefited constitutes “an illicit subsidy and a form of favoritism as well as aid illegally granted within the meaning of the LISM [Loi sur l’interdiction de subventions municipales]“, we can read in the request.
Furthermore, the City has promised to reinvest half of the revenues generated by the sale of land in the Saint-François district.
The land (in yellow) where the Trudel Studios project is to be built.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE CITY OF LAVAL
A hearing on the admissibility of the appeal is also scheduled for December 6 at the Laval courthouse.
Called to react on Saturday, the City of Laval contested the lawsuit’s claims.
“The land was sold at a fair market value, based on an analysis by an independent firm, and the transaction complies with regulatory and legislative requirements. The administration and the population of Laval are the winners, particularly given its direct and indirect economic benefits,” said its spokesperson Philippe Déry.
Abusive procedures according to Trudel
On September 6, the same plaintiffs also filed an injunction integrated into their lawsuit aimed at preventing the project from starting.
This led Trudel Studios to respond and file a request for abuse and dismissal two weeks later, in which it expressed fears about the feasibility of its project.
“The delays caused by the filing of legal proceedings in this case […] seriously compromise the completion of the Project while the third-party investors involved in it have suspended their financing since […]“, we could read.
