Just How Did We Come To Own So Much Land Downtown
Monday, November 5, 2012 @ 3:45 AM
Should it not be the responsibility of each department at City Hall to conduct an in house audit every year in which the various departments sit down and see what can be done to achieve more efficiency?
The concept should more appropriately be called "house cleaning" and should be done in, “all” departments at city hall that should include, Police, fire, and IPG where large sums of tax payer dollars are being spent.
That didn’t happen. Instead we are paying $350 thousand to the KPMG Core Review without this being considered and that is shame. Instead we got a "look see" at the number of properties that could be for sale in the city. We were also told that we should sell some, without regard to the fact that within the past couple of years we spent 3 million plus on the old PG Hotel site and a further 1 million to buy the air above the parking lot of Commonwealth Health.
City councillors, the majority of whom were in office when the properties and air were purchased, should have been paying attention to the growing land assets, they were afterall, approving the purchases.
It is fine and well to suggest that we should get rid of some city owned land, but what caused the city to have an oversupply, in particular in the down town core in the first place?
If we now decide that we want to fire sale some of that land in order to pay our ever increasing, what will be the affect on the average taxpayer in the city?
Instead we are being told about how much money we "might" realize from the sale of city lands without any background on what caused this over supply in the first place and how we can prevent it in the future.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.
Comments
I believe tohosewho are interested in such mater have been told that buying land downtown was part of the strategy to move properties which were less than desirable from downtown enhancement point of view, buy them at a low price and then encourage developers to improve larger cts of land.
Whose brainchild that was, I do not know.
To now try to sell it off, not to people who will develop it to some reasonable potential – since the market for that really is not here at the moment, if it ever will be in the short to intermediate term – but who may just turn it into a parking lot (remember that was the pretend story that was promulgated when Ramada was involved with the purchase) and sit on it would not be a saving as far as I can tell. And, of course, they will try to get away with not paving such a lot and without putting in a bit of landscaping.
We would look worse, like a post world war 2 continental Europe bombed out city with the rubble cleared waiting for the owners to identify themselves so that the land could be re-used for development.
Downtown is dead no one in their right mind would buy property down there. Besides the cities ridiculous building requirements would scare away any developer. PG Golf course lands ring a bell?
The reason why a govt or organization hires an independent party to look at the books is because no one in the govt or organization has to be accountalbe for their actions. With an independent report one can pick and choose what information they want to investigate or take action on while the anomolies quielty slip into a backroom file never to see the light of day.
If I remember correctly the rational for buying up every vacant property in the core is so they could “bundle” land to developers. The ever increasing tax incentives were coming into effect and they must have wanted to keep the fistfights to a minimum as developers fought to get their hands on land. LMAO, someone had better check to what is in the brownies served at council meetings.
Although currently unfunded there will soon be two more vacant lots downtown if the city can find half a million to level the Norgate and Ed Delorme buildings, will be TONS of parking for the farmer’s market.
As for the “housecleaning”, very unlikely to happen under the current budget process where the spending plan is made and then taxes are simply set to match. As long as this model is used waste just festers and grows until something like a core review comes along. If the annual process started out with the budget committee being told that there was say $100 Million available for all city operations and services, then there might be some incentive to cut waste to find the money for basic services or even a pet project.
“Should it not be the responsibility of each department at City Hall to conduct an in house audit every year in which the various departments sit down and see what can be done to achieve more efficiency?”
Bang on Ben. This is what the private sector does. But I guess when tax payers money is involved, there is no need to be accountable.
And yes, the City owning 789 properties and much of it downtown is insanity. Now, selling it will be a challenge, especially in the downtown, which has been dead for at leat 20 years. Nice work, city planners.
Question is….are these properties going to be sold at fair market value or is it going to be a bargain day for some friends of city hall?
And yes, the City owning 789 properties and much of it downtown is insanity.
—————————————–
Dose this include all the City’s holdings like the Kin Centers, City Hall, fire halls that provide service to the residents? Just Wondering.
It took a Core Review to bring some of this stuff to light. It appears the Mayor and Council didnt have the balls to look at their administration. Why didnt they just get the Fraser Institute to show them how its done . They would be happy to do the review for free.
After years of neglect and incompitance at City Hall Queen Green has taken a page out of Horrible Harper and Cristy Crunch’s book to run the affairs of our City. She is unlike those far of rulers that have their Castles to protect them frokm the swords and arrows so she oppted for a core review to take tne barbs.
Cheers
like a lot of what is in the core review, the numbers can be misleading. The key is to ask how many developable pieces of property does the city own. The number is not 789.
That number includes the total of all properties including currently used property, undevelopable property, and off street parking lots that were paid for by downtown property owners who contribute to the downtown parking levy. The property owners contribute to this fund because they aren’t required to provide their own parking. The fund and any sale of those lots is restricted which means the city just can’t sell them and use the money for something else.
The core review seems to capture in one place most of the potential developable sites but that information isn’t new or a revelation.
Despite the rants on here, most developers and the city’s new Development Director Mr. Wells all know which sites are available and are being actively marketed. The disposition of those is more a factor of demand, or lack thereof. I also don’t see the city’s old public works yard included in the potential to sell nor is the city’s prime piece of property adjacent to Fort George Park that is currently used by REAPS. That site must be worth a million or so.
Too bad those 789 entities do not pay city taxes, Hey! But that’s OK. Just put it on my tab.
“Should it not be the responsibility of each department at City Hall to conduct an in house audit every year in which the various departments sit down and see what can be done to achieve more efficiency?”
That is the way it was at one time when this City di it the way many government as well as private corporations did/do it …. Present a budget for 90% less expenditures than last year and show us how your operation would look. Then put back increments in order of preference. Those increments could be ones removed or new ones.
Comments for this article are closed.