Friday, March 02, 2012

City releases details on land sale

Penticton could be issuing a call for buyers as early as the end of March to sell city-owned Eckhardt Avenue lands through a public RFP process, as one way of resolving the failed hockey dorm project. In an exclusive interview with the Western News Thursday, Penticton Mayor Dan Ashton, chief administrative officer Annette Antoniak and development services director Anthony Haddad gave a step-by-step accounting of what transpired leading up to the sale of the city lands on Eckhardt Avenue, the construction process, how the city found out things were going sideways and what was next for the site. Although land sales typically fall under in-camera subject matter, they said the city was releasing the information after hearing many from the community ask for details. “We also feel we have a responsibility to disclose the information. It’s a bit of a difficult one because some of the legalities around it, but we feel it’s important to provide our residents with the facts,” Antoniak said. “That’s really important. These are the facts. There’s lots of rumours and innuendo flying around out there. These are the facts,” Ashton said, adding an open letter to residents and chronology of events will be on the city’s website. (more)

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