Concerns crop up over city’s land sale and lease

Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: January 27, 2011 6:00 PM
A public lake access site is being sold off.  Vernon council has adopted a bylaw that will allow the city to sell a 0.109-hectare lake access to an adjacent property owner on Tronson Road.  “It’s not prime lakeside frontage,” said Leon Gous, chief administrative officer.  “There’s a cliff at the end of it. There’s not much we can do with it.”  The applicant has had permission from the Ministry of Transportation to use the area for driveway since 1989.  Councillors Bob Spiers and Patrick Nicol opposed selling the land for $136,500.  “There are concerns that we’re selling city property off at a lower rate than we should be,” said Spiers.  “We should have found out if we could have gone back and got a better price.”
In a letter to council, former councillor Barry Beardsell stated that staff wanted to sell the site for $210,000 in 2007. “This case merits investigation,” he said. City staff say they had the site appraised at $163,000 while the purchaser had it valued at $110,000.  Gous says that under law, the city must offer lake accesses to adjacent property owners and they can’t just be sold on the open market. Proceeds from the sale will go towards the purchase of other public lake accesses.

Davison Road Property Leased.  A portion of City of Vernon-owned land will be used for agriculture.
City council has approved Davison Orchards leasing a 3.6-hectare portion of property on Davison Road for 40 years. Opposition came from Councillors Patrick Nicol and Bob Spiers.  “This process should have been more public,” said Nicol.  However, Leon Gous, chief administrative officer, says the standard lease rules were followed and the contract terms have been disclosed.  “The process doesn’t require public input but it requires public transparency,” he said.  The lease rate is $2,400 a year for the first five years, with reviews every five years. Davison Orchards will be responsible for property taxes, utilities and insurance.  Council has also agreed to a restrictive covenant on the remaining 5.7 hectares of the property, commonly known as the Rock. The goal is to protect the sensitive ecosystem at the site.