A 21-year legal battle over a piece of Windsor riverfront property will be reviewed by the Ontario Court of Appeal.

The city's senior legal counsel Patrick Brode tells CTV News a London-based developer has applied for leave to appeal.

Shergar Developments was ordered to pay the city’s legal costs of about $500,000 in a decision upheld by the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in April.

The dispute started when the city expropriated land west of the Caron Avenue Pumping Station in 1997. That initial legal fight ended in Windsor's favour in 2004. The developers lost an appeal in 2007 and also lost at Ontario Municipal Board.

The developer also received much less compensation than it was seeking in the initial ruling.

Shergar claimed it was owed more than $5 million, but the OMB ruled the land was worth about $710,000.

The City of Windsor did offer $1.2 million to settle the matter in 2015 and Shergar turned it down.

Brode expects to hear whether or not an appeal will proceed sometime this summer.