Ottawa Lynx pounce on city for $11 million

TheOttawa Lynx baseball club is suing the City of Ottawa for almost $11 million over a parking space shortage.

Kyle Bostwick, thetriple-A team's general manager, said the city broke its lease agreement with the team, which is scheduled to leave Ottawa for Allentown, Pa., in 2008.

"There's a very, very clear requirement of 1,600 parking spaces on site that we've been trying to secure for over six years now," Bostwick said.

TheInternational Leagueteam plays its home games at Lynx Stadium, a 10,000 seat city-owned facility at Queensway and Riverside Drive built in 1990 for $17 million.

The team's lawsuit claims the city never replaced more than 600 parking spaces at the stadium that it sold between 1998 and 2000 and was obliged to provide as part of the lease agreement.

Bostwick said attendance at Lynx games jumped 30 per cent in 2001 after Vermont businessman Ray Pecor took over the team.

"During that time, with the increase in attendance, we saw a huge, huge increase in people telling us that there was absolutely no place to park at Lynx Stadium," Bostwick said.

Team owes city $3 million

The team was sold in August to Pennsylvania businessmen Joseph Finley and Craig Stein. It will move in 2008 to Allentown, Pa., where it will become a farm team for the Major League Philadelphia Phillies. Pecor will retain minority ownership.

The City of Ottawa said at the time of the sale that the team may leave the city with more than $3 million in unpaid debts left over from the construction of the stadium.

On Wednesday morning, Mayor Bob Chiarellitold Radio-Canada, CBC's French language service,that the city has spoken frequently with the Lynx about the parking problems, and suggested the lawsuitis a defensive strategyaimed at helping the team wriggleout of themoneyit owes.

"The Lynx have had problems for four to five years and it's very irresponsible to blame the city for those problems," Chiarelli said in French. "The Lynx have a legal obligation to pay the city when they leave the city."