City could have bought Mill Creek Ravine park site
Residents and environmental groups are scrambling to try to stop construction of a three-storey dream home in the middle of Mill Creek Ravine park.
But they ’re now learning city officials were offered the chance to buy the land at the last sale price and refused. The price was double the city’s assessed value.
“I’m just horrified by what’s happening. I don’t understand,” said Peigi Rockwell, civics director for the Strathcona Community League.
“What does that say about how we’re looking after our river valley?”
The modern house and twocar garage is planned for more than 120 metres from any other residence beside the creek, with a driveway crossing the bike path.
The community league, the Sierra Club and others are appealing the development permit, arguing the house is too large and creates a dangerous situation with blind corners as the driveway crosses the busy bike path. The project will also restrict access into the ravine from 93 Avenue.
A subdivision and development appeal board hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
“This is important land,” Rockwell said.
The site used to have a small white postwar house that burned down in two successive fires in 2006 and 2007.
Former owner Michael Wild tried to rebuild, then listed the property for $1.5 million in 2013. With no takers, he offered to sell it to the city for $997,000 in 2015. The city refused because its property assessors pegged the value at $475,000.
Then Wild dropped the price to $964,900, and retired businessman Robert Weinrich made him an offer for that amount as long as he could get a development permit.
Wild offered it to the city again at the new price with no conditions. Again officials refused. Weinrich eventually dropped his conditions and took ownership.
“When we had the chance to meet the offer, we should have done so. But hindsight is 20-20,” said Ben Henderson, city councillor for the area.
City staff need to bring deals to council if the price is much above the assessed value, he said. Henderson wishes they had done that because he wasn’t aware the option to buy was on the table.
He worries the city was unwilling to bend because of bad blood between the two parties. Edmonton once unsuccessfully tried to expropriate the land, and Wild was so angry with city actions that emails he shared with Postmedia show he threatened to sue.
But even so, said Henderson, “spending that money to avoid this problem would have been worth it.”
Peter Ohm, the head of city planning, said officials made the call because they didn’t want this inflated price to drive up the cost of land elsewhere in the river valley.
The city has money set aside to buy private land in the river valley and ravines whenever possible. But “this is one property out of hundreds and hundreds of (large and small fragmented lots in the river valley),” he said.
“Minding taxpayer dollars, we’ve got to be cognizant of how we do every one of those deals. Because it has play in the next deal when we show up asking to buy the next property.”
For his part, Wild is still angry. He shared his story because he feels community outrage against Weinrich and his house is misdirected.
“People thought Robert Weinrich was getting special treatment because he has money, and he wasn’t,” Wild said. “Anger should be directed at the city … If the city would have matched his offer, none of this would have happened.”