Ontario Superior Court of Justice Orders Ajax Developer to Demolish Unlawfully Constructed Building

On September 18, 2025, Ontario Superior Court Justice Annette Casullo granted the Town of Ajax’s (the “Town”) application seeking an order requiring First Avenue Properties Inc. (“First Avenue”) to demolish and remove from the property municipally located at 599 Kingston Road West in Ajax, Ontario (the “Property”), all above-grade construction carried out without the benefit of a building permit.

First Avenue proposed to build a four-storey mixed-use building on the Property, with commercial units at grade and residential units above. In April 2021, First Avenue received site plan approval (“SPA”) from the Town. Among the SPA conditions was a condition requiring First Avenue to file a Record of Site Condition (“RSC”) with the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (“MECP”) prior to the Town issuing any above-grade building permit for the site.

Given the Property was historically used as an automotive sales and repair facility, there was soil contamination evidenced by environmental reports provided to the Town as part of the building’s approval process. The Town expected that environmental remediation of the Property would occur before an RSC would be issued, after which an above-grade building permit could be issued.

In September 2021, First Avenue received a below-grade building permit allowing construction of the footings and foundation system for the proposed development. Despite not having obtained an above-grade permit, First Avenue continued with construction of above-grade elements and failed to have the below-grade elements inspected. The Town issued a multiple orders in October 2021, however the developer continued construction on the site. 

The Town commenced its application to the Court seeking demolition of the unlawfully constructed above-grade structures on the site. First Avenue acknowledged that the above-grade construction on the Property was carried out without a permit but resisted the order for demolition, submitting that the better course of action was to dismiss the application and allow it to continue working toward obtaining the requisite environmental approval and building permit which, at the time of the hearing, had not been obtained.

Justice Casullo found that First Avenue made a calculated decision to build beyond the scope of the original conditional building permit approval, and that the only just remedy would be to order the demolition of the already-constructed above-grade elements.

Aird & Berlis successfully represented the Town of Ajax with a team including Brian Chung (Litigation & Dispute Resolution) and John George Pappas (Municipal & Land Use Planning).