Nothing secretive about land sale

CADC’s GM says sale of property next to Founders’ Hall was very public process

There was nothing secretive about the way vacant piece of land next to Founders’ Hall was sold to a private developer, says the general manager of the Charlottetown Area Development Corporation (CADC).

Ron Waite said Wednesday CADC originally put Founders’ Hall and the vacant piece of land next to it up for sale as one parcel of land.

It was purchased by Atlantis Health Spa Ltd., which is owned by developer Paul Madden. Madden eventually subdivided the two pieces of property.

Last week, city council narrowly voted 5-4 in favour of spending $1.25 million to purchase the vacant piece of property while Madden still owns Founders’ Hall.

After the vote, Mayor Clifford Lee commented that CADC had sold the property to Madden without the city’s knowledge.

Waite said CADC didn’t directly consult with the city before selling the property to Madden, but the corporation wasn’t trying to hide anything.

“It was a decision by the board to put the lands on the market, but it was open for a period of 60 days. So while we didn’t directly inform the mayor or council it was on the market; it was a pretty public process,’’ Waite said. “There was quite a bit of noise going on around it at the time.’’

Coun. Mitchell Tweel, chairman of the city’s parks and recreation committee, said the city will preserve the property as green space.

It is the location of the historic CN roundhouse.

The question is, could the city have purchased the property for less than $1.25 million at some point or should the land have been deeded to the city. The city is a 15 per cent shareholder of CADC.

“There was a value put on the property,’’ Waite said.

“If the city had approached (us) at the time and said that they wanted to purchase it, I’m sure that, as a shareholder of CADC, they would have gotten preferential treatment on the thing.’’

Rumours had been circulating that there was other interest in the vacant property, so one line of thought was the city stepped in to protect it from development.

After last week’s vote, Lee said that wasn’t the case.

“I don’t think it was a matter of protecting it from anything,’’ Lee said. “I think it was a matter of saying this was a major piece of land on the city’s waterfront, it’s a great piece of land for a gathering point for the community and council. In their wisdom, (council) said we should control that parcel of land, not for development but as a public gathering space.’’

“It was a decision by the board to put the lands on the market, but it was open for a period of 60 days. So while we didn’t directly inform the mayor or council it was on the market; it was a pretty public process. There was quite a bit of noise going on around it at the time.’’ Ron Waite