It was dark outside Toronto city hall when the votes were cast in a mostly empty chamber to sign a sole-sourced 20-year lease extension with Tuggs Inc. that had been controversial for years.

The tally was 15-12 from a 45-member council. A whopping 18 council members, including then-mayor David Miller, former Tuggs booster Sandra Bussin and vocal Tuggs critic Rob Ford, missed the late-night vote.

The Boardwalk Cafe lease at Ashbridges Bay was among more than 100 items on the two-day agenda, but it’s the one that hasn’t been forgotten. In the words of one former councillor who was there, and voted for it, the lease extension remains a “political hot football” with no sign of cooling.

In the latest twist, Tuggs owner George Foulidis will next month ask city council to reassign part of the lease — which runs until Sept. 16, 2028 — to restaurant giant Cara Operations Ltd., which in July opened a chain restaurant at the prime beach-and-boardwalk site beside the Tim Hortons franchise Foulidis opened in the spring.

Several councillors have expressed dismay that the lease extension — originally championed by Bussin to protect the family-run “mom and pop” Boardwalk Cafe from competing with big fast-food chains for the lease — has seen Boardwalk replaced by two chain eateries beside Foulidis’s Athens bakery.

Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon, who beat Bussin in Ward 32 in the election months after the Tuggs vote, calls the lease “a tragedy all around.” She says Tuggs has driven away some charity events by wielding the lease’s veto over community events involving food, drink or the sale of items, in four neighbouring parks.

A manager for Foulidis's company that manages the site flatly rejected that suggestion. “Throughout the years, we have served the interest and benefits for hundreds of local community and charitable groups,” David Valente of Boardwalk Place said in an email. Efforts to contact Foulidis for an interview about the lease, including through Valente, were unsuccessful.

The Star interviewed five councillors and an ex-councillor who voted in 2010 for the lease extension, which was originally approved in 2007 — against the recommendation of city staff for a competitive process. The lease had returned to council in 2010 unsigned because staff were unable to agree on terms with Foulidis.

Four of the councillors said they never would have voted for the lease extension had they know it would result in chain eateries on choice waterfront city land. Some also said council learned valuable lessons.

For example, an unsolicited lease extension offer, like the one Tuggs made to the city in 2006, would now land in the city’s partnerships office rather than the floor of council.

Bussin, who declined to vote on the 2010 item after being criticized for her earlier support and Foulidis family contributions to her election campaigns, did not respond to a request for an interview.

Here’s what some of those who did vote said about their support:

Councillor Janet Davis

Council had no policy around unsolicited bids and she was surprised to learn Tuggs can reassign part of the sole-sourced lease to another company. “Had I known that it was going to be big chain restaurants I would never have supported it. I was totally surprised to see the transformation that happened.” She said she is also unhappy the city has no way of knowing the financial arrangement between Tuggs and Cara.

Councillor Joe Mihevc

“You trust the local councillor,” he said of his support in 2007. “There was no skullduggery that I could see. You have a family that has invested in the site, and councillors prefer a mom-and-pop operation.” Still, “it’s the other end of the city, it’s not like most of us gave it a lot of attention.” Mihevc said he is “disappointed” the site has “gone corporate” and is concerned by Tuggs’ right to reassign part of the lease.

Ex-councillor Joe Pantalone

He said the ongoing controversy is a failure of both sides to make the lease work for Tuggs and the community. He said he does not in any way regret his vote for the lease extension in 2010. “You need a private sector partner. If you're dancing with somebody well into the evening, you can't say ‘Let's start all over again.’ That's not how you build credibility in the business community.”

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Councillor Gord Perks

“In today’s policy framework this whole thing could not happen,” he said. “We didn’t have the framework to turn (Foulidis’s) proposal down, but we do now.” Perks said a risk of contracting out is that the original winner is going to have an advantage when renewal time comes. “From advice we had in staff, this was the best deal available to public at the time and that’s why I went along with it.”

Councillor Pam McConnell

“It was a long drawn-out process. It was very late at night and there were not very many people there,” she recalled. “Our interest was to improve the (restaurant) infrastructure on the site.” In 2013 when the Centreville amusement park lease came due, she made sure it went out for tender. McConnell said she would not have voted for a sole-sourced Tuggs lease knowing part of it could later reassigned to a big corporation.

Councillor Paula Fletcher

“It’s not the vision I was sold, it’s not the vision I voted on. It’s turned out to be a nightmare,” she said of the chain restaurants and concerns over community events in parks. “We didn’t have a partnership office to properly vet an unsolicited offer. It wouldn’t have happened if we had a better staff process in place. I don’t see an end to it — this is going to go on for years.”

Chronology of the Tuggs lease deal at Toronto council

1986: While Tom Jakobek was councillor for the area, Tuggs Inc. won a contract to build and operate a cafe at Woodbine Beach Park and two summer food concessions at D.D. Sommerville Pool and Kew Gardens park. The original lease and two five-year renewal options lasted until 2007.

2006: Tuggs approached the city with an proposal to extend the lease another 20 years without competition. The company proposed spending $2.15 million to upgrade the Boardwalk restaurant and raising annual rent to $275,000. City staff recommended rejecting the offer, and putting the lease out to tender, but council voted to ask staff to go ahead and draft the sole-sourced lease.

2007: Jakobek successor Sandra Bussin successfully urged her colleagues to approve the Tuggs lease, arguing the “mom and pop” operation needed to be rewarded for its investment in the site. Otherwise, a fast-food chain might win a competition for the lease, she said. Council voted 21-14 in favour, despite pleas from Denzil Minnan-Wong and others to put the deal out to tender in light of concerns over sole-sourcing triggered by the MFP computer leasing inquiry.

April 2010: City staff told councillors the deal was never signed because they could not come to terms with Tuggs owner George Foulidis. He wanted the $250,000-per-year lease reduced by $50,000 and “broad” sponsorship rights on food and concession sales in the area. “This may be not what you would perceive to be the best deal, but it is the deal that we were able to negotiate,” a parks manager told a city committee.

May 2010: Council voted 15-12 to proceed with the lease. The lease gives Tuggs the right to operate concessions at Kew Gardens and D.D. Somerville pool and exclusive rights to the sale of novelties, food and drinks at four parks — Woodbine Beach, Ashbridges Bay, Kew Gardens and Beaches.

June 2010: An attempt by Councillor Frances Nunziata to reopen the vote got the approval of a majority of councillors, but fell short of the required two-thirds. The city's legal department had warned them that reopening the deal would risk a lawsuit, even though the city hadn't yet signed the agreement.”

September 2016: Tuggs asks a city committee to reassign part of his sole-sourced lease to restaurant giant Cara, which on July 1 opened the Carters Landing chain eatery next to the Tim Hortons franchise Foulidis opened in the spring. Some councillors appeared surprised to hear from city legal staff that, under the lease, they could reject the application based only on concerns about the financial viability of Cara. The city has no such concerns.

October 2016: The Tuggs request will land back at city council. The councillor for the area, Mary-Margaret McMahon, who has voiced exasperation with Foulidis over the expansion and his dealings with non-profit events using the parks, says council has few options. She says she will introduce a proposal behind closed doors but won’t say what it is.