The land shift was outlined in a legal notice published in the weekly newspaper over the holiday period, noting that the land in question is to be subdivided by leasehold subdivision or otherwise, to consist of approximately 78.55 ha, and that the City of Prince Rupert proposes to lease those portions described at below-market rent, as assistance to Prince Rupert Legacy Inc. for the contemplated 30 year term of lease(s), the extent of the assistance being the difference between market value rent and the contemplated rent of $100.00 for the term.
There is little information in the legal notice to outline what plans that the City may have for the land to be transferred to the Legacy Corporation, and the area in question is only listed by District Lot Identification Numbers, which doesn't really give those reading the notice much of an idea as to where the land in question might be found.
A better approach towards information sharing and one that may have helped curious residents to better understand where the land might be located would have been to include a map, much like we have seen with past zoning issues, or other notes of information on city land issues.
Considering the growing list of communication services that the city has created in recent years, it is curious that the the proposed land shift to the Legacy Corporation seems to have made for little in the way of interest when it comes to those methods of information delivery.
A notice of this type would seem to be the kind of thing where the City could have made use of their many information delivery options, whether it be the City website, YouTube page, or range of Facebook pages (here and here) as well as the other social media options that they now have in place to share news.
Those are all forms of communication that city officials have made use of on a frequent basis in the past to share Council's talking points on issues they wish to promote or inform on, as well as for other items which at times have little to do with civic initiatives.
The Legal notice hasn't even made it to the city's own Notices page on the civic website, nor is there any indication of what's planned to be found on the Legacy Corporation home page at the City's website, though updates on anything to do with the Legacy Corporation at that information portal have been few and far between since it was first set up.
Even though the announcement to dispose of the land was launched over the course of the recent holiday shutdown at City Hall, the transfer plan seems to be on a fast track to completion.
The City indicates through it's Legal Notice that it plans to deliver the lease to Legacy Corporation on, or before January 5th, while any enquiries concerning the proposed property disposition need to be delivered in writing to Rory Mandryk, the City's Corporate Administrator no later than 4 PM on Wednesday, January 4th.
We imagine that those comments or questions will be few, especially considering the busy pace of the recently completed holiday season and the approach and timeline that the City has taken to put their land shift process into motion.
City Council does not meet in public session until January 9th, and while matters related to the Legacy Corporation rarely make for discussion topics at council meetings, perhaps during the course of the first session of the New Year one of the city's Council members might ask for some public background from City staff on the city's plans through the Legacy Corporation.
You can review notes from City Hall through our Council Discussion page, with a new archive now created for 2017, a look back at the events from 2016 can be found here.
As well, the 2017 archive of items of note related to the Legacy Corporation can be found here.
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