Bruce Walkinshaw - Penticton Western News Published: December 10, 2009
Once I built a tower, up to the sun/ Brick and rivet and lime/ Once I built a tower, now it’s done/ Brother, can you spare a dime.
Penticton council voted Monday to endorse a plan which could refund over $1 million in permit fees and securities for a failed development. The money will be given to the court-appointed receivership company managing the bankrupt Alysen Place project (at 3301 Skaha Lake Rd.), subject to many conditions including that the company make the site and its landscaping both safer and more esthetically appealing, and that it complete construction of a fence and a parkade wall. If eventually approved, the $1,098,267 refund will be the first under the newly adopted city policy to return permit fees and securities in cases where construction on a project had started but did not finish due to financial reasons, and where a council-approved mitigation plan addressed unsightliness, public safety and completion of unfinished works. “Once all of the expenses and expenditures of the city have been looked after, why would you keep somebody’s funds for infrastructure that is not required because the development is not going ahead?” asked Mayor Dan Ashton.
He pointed out that should another developer come along and want to develop the property in the future, the city will still have the opportunity to re-collect the fees for the infrastructure. “For me it’s common sense,” Ashton said. “It’s fair, transparent and equitable. It is the way city business should be done.” Not all of council agreed with Ashton’s assessment, as both Garry Litke and John Vassilaki voted against refunding the money. “These developers are leveraging millions of dollars to try and make millions of dollars,” explained Litke of his position. “If something goes wrong, well then, it is just the cost of doing business.” Litke noted the trouble the Alysen project created when it was first proposed two councils ago. “The public was very engaged in the public hearing process because they were really concerned about the height and the precedent that the tall buildings were going to create. And finally there was strong political will from that council to push the project through,” recalled Litke. “And then, all of a sudden, the developer quits and pulls up steaks and leaves town. And you know, OK, that’s fine. But then he comes back to the city and says, ‘Oh, by the way, I want my money back.’ Ethically that feels wrong to me. “I also think it is just a matter of fiscal responsibility because we are in the middle of a budget crunch right now ... We are laying off staff, cutting back programs, threatening to tax churches and cutting back grants to festivals. And then, we turn around and give $1 million to this guy. It just doesn’t seem to make common sense.”
Monday’s meeting also saw Johncross Properties apply for a refund, using the new policy, of approximately $87,000 for their unfinished development at 206 Marina Way. It was rejected swiftly and unanimously. “Basically, the report indicates there may not be enough money (for the Marina Way-project) to clean up the site,” explained Coun. Mike Pearce of his motion to reject the application. “There people with $500,000-units just above it and they have been looking it for a year-and-a-half to two years now and there was no activity on the site at all. (The developer) is trying to get his money back and likely then he will be gone ... or at least that is what I would be afraid of. So we’ll just hold back (the money) and wait and see.”
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