On November 12 and 13, the council held a public debate to discuss what should be done with the area at Lansdowne Park. Guest speakers included CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon and former Rough Riders Jock Climie and Mark Kosmos, who presented their case as to why the Lansdowne Live group was an important contributor to the city of Ottawa. The following Monday, November 16, it was reported that the council had voted 15–9 in favor of plans to redevelop Lansdowne Park to house a CFL team. The ownership group was given until June 2010 to sort out the details of the redevelopment, with construction set to begin in the spring of 2011.

On June 28, 2010, after a twelve-hour meeting, the city council approved the plan to redevelop Lansdowne Park by the same 15–9 vote, all but securing a franchise in the nation’s capital. With construction on the stadium scheduled to begin in 2011, the earliest the team would have been able to play was 2013 under the original timeline. However, a failed legal challenge and an Ontario Municipal Board hearing on the Lansdowne Park redevelopment project delayed the start of construction until 2013, with completion targeted for the summer of 2015, although there were indications that the stadium could be opened for football as early as 2014. Without a viable stadium, the debut of the team was necessarily pushed back accordingly.

On October 10, 2012, the new franchise cleared its final political hurdle with a 21–3 vote by the city council in favor of Lansdowne. Construction on the north and south side stands was set to begin in October 2012.