Two court actions saw a major local film studio challenge 91Ô­´´ Township over a massive proposed sound stage site planned for the Willoughby area in 2024.

For years, Martini Film Studios has been planning to build 16 sound stages across 600,000 square feet of space, along with 135,000 square feet of office space, creating one of the largest purpose-built studios in Canada.

The site for this project was to be a corner of the Williams neighbourhood, in the northeastern corner of Willoughby. The site is north of 80 Avenue and west of 216 Street, near the highway interchange.

The company, which already has a sound stage in industrial Walnut Grove and a back lot dubbed "Martini Town" in Aldergrove, spent $190 million assembling the 70 acres for the project, according to court filings.

Then in early 2024, the company took the Township to court, demanding a recent land use change for that area be overturned.

On Dec. 4, 2023, the Township had designated part of the land in the proposed film studio area for civic institutional use. The change was linked to the Township's longstanding need for a new operations centre – it's old Murrayville site, which hosts large equipment like road graders and snow plows, has been short on space for years.

The lost chunk of land would affect 38 per cent of the Martini Film Studio campus, and throw the entire project into jeopardy, the studio claimed in its petition to the courts.

By Jan. 15, the Township had voted to take a "sober second look" at the land use bylaw.

While that dispute went quiet, another simmered and came into view on Sept. 4, when Lorval Developments, the firm actually developing the studio site, again took the Township to court, this time arguing that community amenity contributions (CACs) for the project weren't actually legal.

The company argued that CACs – which are contributions to local government funds for things like nearby rec centres, swimming pools, and libraries – would cost them between $33 and $39 million, depending on how they were calculated.

Lorval asked a judge to declare the CAC policy, or a specific amendment to it made in 2023, void.

On Oct. 7, Township council took a look at the CAC policy, with a specific amendment suggested by Mayor Eric Woodward: "That all target contribution rates specific to the Williams Neighbourhood Plan be removed."

When Councillor Kim Richter verbally sparred with Woodward, asking why the change was being considered, he referenced "pending litigation."

The Township would also respond in court that month, arguing that CACs are voluntary, so they are not subject to the law at all.

"Nothing in the policy requires or compels the petitioner [Lorval] to pay a certain amount of CACs to 91Ô­´´," the Township's response said, in part.

None of the claims in any of the court documents has been proven in court.

At the end of the year, the Lorval court action was still outstanding.