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| Indications from a public notice of this week suggest that the City of Prince Rupert has two more Watson Island lots set to be leased out through the Prince Rupert Legacy Corporation |
North Coast residents have been given another opportunity to take the city's map reading program out for a test drive this week, with a Public Notice published in the weekly paper this week that notes that the City is looking to dispose of some property through a thirty year lease process.
Much like the process that took place earlier this year, the Public Notice appears to have been exclusive to the back pages of the weekly paper, with no advisories provided on any of the city's information portals such as the city website, Facebook page or twitter stream that they offer to the public to share details on items of note.
No mention of the notice was offered up through the Mayor's Facebook portal option either, a forum he frequently uses to keep residents up to date on any civic developments
The first indication of the city's plans for disposal of property through the Prince Rupert Legacy Corporation came in the back pages of the May 24th edition of the paper.
Those who regularly explore the final few items for each week's publishing run of the paper would have noted that there had been a short window to seek out information from the city with the deadline for enquiries of the City related to the lots advertised as yesterday at 4PM.
The newspaper notification advises that the City of Prince Rupert proposes to dispose of property by way of a lease for a term of 30 years, commencing on or around June 2nd, 2017
The properties to be leased off are indicated through Lot information and their PID numbers, the two items noted for the latest announcement are:
004428676
004402235
For those that make use of this program available on the city website a quick snapshot of two lots on Watson Island comes up as associated with the numbers.
The newspaper notification further outlines some of the process ahead related to the land notice.
Notice is hereby given that the City of Prince Rupert proposes to lease these portions of the properties described above at below-market rent, as assistance for Prince Rupert Legacy Inc. for the contemplated 30 year term of the lease(s) the extent of the assistance being the difference between market value rent and the contemplated rent of $100.00 for the term.
The notice does not provide for any indication as to what Legacy Inc. may have planned for the land or who, if anyone, may be taking on the leases mentioned as part of any subdivision of the land.
Progress at Watson Island was included as part of the Mayor's letter to residents delivered with the annual tax notice this week, where Mr. Brain noted the recent agreement with Pembina for a Liquid Propane Gas Export facility, adding that the city is looking towards future development opportunities for the industrial area
City Councillor Blair Mirau recently raised the topic of the need for City Council to provide more information on some of their work that takes place in Closed Sessions, a topic of discussion that included elements of how the City handles its Watson Island issues.
As part of that council conversation Mr. Mirau suggested that the City provide more background on their work for the public and to provide it in a timely fashion, an intiative that the Mayor observed was something that the city could communicate more effectively.
The first opportunity for council members to put Mr. Mirau's proposal to the test comes up with the June 12th Council session.
That first meeting for June could offer Council and the City's Legacy officials a chance to provide the community with more background as to what these latest land moves may mean towards bringing the industrial site back to a revenue generating instrument for the city.
More items of interest related to Legacy can be found here.
Past notes on City Council discussion topics can be reviewed from our Council archive here.
Notwithstanding all of the usual talk about transparency and so on, the Legacy Corporation has become like a secret government within the municipal government. It's like its corporate structure is being used to avoid public disclosure and accountability.
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting approach that they seem to take with Legacy Corp, as though it's not of overview by CityCouncil, but a stand alone entity.
ReplyDeleteSame it seems as the way that they view their oversight on CityWest and now the Airport Society, where we receive less information owing to layers of bureaucracy.
I found it somewhat ironic that on the latest Legacy notes, the notice to the public came following Councils recent discussion on the need to give the public more information on council dealings. One day later the notice is delivered through an item in the far back of the local paper and not through any mechanism at City Hall.
It would appear that Councillor Mirau may have some work cut out for him in his pursuit of having the City provide more information, more quickly on issues to its residents ...
NCR
Considering that the Mayor and others have benefited from the Legacy Corporation by way of pay top-ups and so on to plan for 'hyper - economic growth' it would seem prudent for the Mayor and Council to be especially forthright in disclosing the Corporation's activities and finances.
ReplyDelete