Deal’s demise leaves city with 420 acres

By Ron Seymour Thursday, October 5, 2006http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/article_3234.php
The City of Kelowna has become the somewhat reluctant owner of 420 acres of farmland near the Glenmore landfill.The Agricultural Land Commission rejected a plan by the city and a developer to create a new rural subdivision on the former Tutt Ranch, while also allowing for expansion of the dump and an eventual new road link to the UBC Okanagan campus.“I’m never surprised by what the Agricultural Land Commission does,” Coun. Colin Day said Wednesday.“But, upon reflection, I think this will prove to be an excellent long-term investment for the city,” Day said.Earlier this year, the city struck a deal with the Mission Group to jointly buy the Tutt Ranch from its former owners for a total of $12.3 million. The city paid one-third, and the developer paid two-thirds.The entire property is within the Agricultural Land Reserve, but it contains more than 30 individual parcels of between 10 and 15 acres that could be individually sold since they were created in the early 1900s, long before the ALR was formed.However, the lots are long and narrow, and considered less than ideal for modern usage. The plan was to create a new subdivision layout, as well as a new access road that would eventually link the Glenmore Valley to UBCO.Mission Group would have marketed the reconfigured, smaller lots as so-called ranchettes of about seven acres. The city would retain 135 acres for the future expansion of the landfill. The entire property would remain within the ALR. However, the Agricultural Land Commission recently indicated it would reject the proposed layout. “It was not conducive to agriculture,” said Martin Collins, Okanagan regional planner for the ALC, noting the proposed new rural lots were only about half the size of the existing ones.When it became clear the proposal was going to be rejected, Mission Group abandoned its interest in the project and asked to be bought out by the city, as per the terms of the agreement.“Naturally, we’re disappointed by the commission’s decision,” said Jonathan Friesen, chairman of Mission Group. Now that the city owns the entire 420-acre property, it has a couple of options. It could keep what it needs for the landfill expansion and simply sell off the existing lots, or it could see if UBCO might want to buy some of the property for future expansion of the campus.But Coun. Brian Given suggested it’s unlikely the city would be in a hurry to sell the lots to anyone.“We don’t need all of it for the landfill, but right now we’ll probably hang on to the entire property,” Given said. “This way, we control its future.”As development spreads farther north into the Glenmore Valley and UBCO grows, the value of the property will only increase, Day and Given said.