One city councillor feels the timing is wrong to proceed with the city's attainable housing plan. Council has approved a loan of 1.1 million dollars to the Hesperia Development Corporation to add services like sewer and water, at a 69 acre site near Apollo Road and Okanagan Avenue. Bob Spiers says the decision is premature, and he was opposed to the motion. "We're three or four years away from even selling a property out there, or even putting a house up, so why should we do it now?" Mayor Wayne Lippert tells KISS FM, adding services makes the land more attractive for sale to developers. "It's not our intent to develop the land and build on it, it's just to get works in place, and develop the plans, and then sell the property off to the development companies and builders." Lippert
says not having services on the site would be one of the things that would stop a developer, particularly a smaller one, from going ahead due to the significant money to put up, that they may not be able to recover right away. "This is a chance for them to have some serviced property with improved streets and sidewalks and other infrastructure that will also benefit the neighbors in the area." According to its website, the Hesperia Development Corporation was created by, and is 100% owned by the City of Vernon. Ownership of the Hesperia lands has been transferred to HDC and the corporation is charged with planning and developing the property for the benefit of the city. The city controls who sits on the board of directors, provides financing and approves plans and annual budgets of the corporation. The city will ultimately benefit from any profits that arise from the development of the Hesperia lands.
1 comment:
The last line of this story should read "The City will ultimately suffer the financial losses, carrying costs, loss of ownership of prime greenspace, and lawsuits from unsubsidized developments that arise from the development of the Hesperia lands"
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