City passed on chance to buy land for park
Properties next to King’s Park have since been sold and will soon be home to a hotel
Editor’s note: This is the second article in a five-part series in which we’re pulling back part of the veil of secrecy over Penticton city council’s in-camera meetings. In the first four parts, we’re looking at items of community interest we think should have been public, but weren’t. In the final part, we’ll compare Penticton’s penchant for secrecy to that of other communities, and find out how the new city manager plans to improve transparency.
For a cool $1.95 million, the City of Penticton could have picked up two properties on Eckhardt Avenue ideally suited for expansion of adjacent King’s Park. “This is a strategic parcel of land that may enable the entire block to eventually become park land,” city land administrator Peter Wallace wrote in a confidential Nov. 21, 2016, report to council, which considered the matter that same day at an in-camera session.
Together the two lots — 602 and 640 Eckhardt Ave. W. — cover about 6,000 square metres. They currently boast a rental home and the old Playtime Bingo Hall.
Wallace’s report, which outlines terms of a proposed deal with property owner Gateway Casinos and Entertainment, was obtained by The Herald through a freedom of information request.
He cautioned the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which will eventually guide such purchases, was still in its infancy then, but also that the properties wouldn’t be on the market forever.
“Preliminary conclusion of the master plan is that the city has adequate parkland supply today but as the population grows and needs change the city may need to look at acquiring more property,” Wallace wrote.
“That being said, this is an immediate opportunity that may not become available again in the future.”
He suggested funding the purchase from the city’s land acquisition reserve and capital project surplus, then replenishing the reserve by selling off five other properties, the addresses of which were redacted in The Herald’s copy of the report.
Wallace also negotiated a side agreement to have the city lease the properties back to Gateway for $5,000 a month for up to six months after the sale closed Dec. 20.
At the time, the asking price represented a $143,000 premium on the properties’ combined assessed value.
Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said this week the cost was one of several factors that prompted council to turn down the deal.
“We didn’t have a plan of what was going to go there or the money to program (a new use), it was over assessed value, and the timing wasn’t right to pull the trigger,” he said.
“We didn’t have time to talk to the public about what the best use is.”
Since council passed on the offer, the assessed value of the properties has jumped to $2.27 million, and Gateway found a buyer in Kamloops-based Mundi Hotel Enterprises, which has already gotten the site rezoned for a Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott.
Company president Ron Mundi declined this week to reveal the purchase price, noting the sale isn’t final yet.
A start date for construction hasn’t been finalized yet either, but he expects the hotel to open for business by next fall at the latest.
While the site was earmarked by city staff as an ideal spot for park expansion, Mundi believes it’s better suited for a hotel, owing to its proximity to the South Okanagan Events Centre campus, King’s Park and Cascades Casino. Plus, it’s a fair distance from traffic noise on Highway 97.
“That’s why it’s a good spot for a hotel,” said Mundi, “and it’s close to basically everything.”
Wednesday: We look at an important change to the Penticton Fire Department’s first responder program that was approved behind closed doors and never disclosed publicly.