Parliament Oak property sold to developer
The sale of a historic property in Niagara-on-the-Lake for nearly $5-million was described as “an outrage,” after members of the community as well as the town worked to preserve it.
District School Board of Niagara announced Wednesday that it sold the Parliament Oak property, 325 King St., to developer Liberty Sites (3) Ltd., after community protests and failed negotiations with the town.
The 1.6 hectares of property – home to Parliament Oak Elementary School for 75 years until it was closed after a 2015 accommodations review – is believed to be the site where Upper Canada’s first Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe led a meeting of Parliament under an oak tree on a hot day in 1793, when NOTL was still known as Newark.
In an e-mail, NOTL Lord Mayor Patrick Darte said the town “received an unfavourable outcome in our efforts of trying to purchase the property.”
“I know town staff and council worked diligently to purchase the property in hopes of maintaining Niagara-on-the-Lake’s cultural and heritage legacy and to provide another facility for our residents,” he said.
Resident David Israelson, who led community efforts to establish a community hub at the location, said the property has “a lot of historic significance.”
“From my perspective, it’s an outrage that the school board … would not actually sit down in good faith and talk with the community,” he said.
DSBN Chair Dale Robinson said she too was disappointed an agreement couldn’t be reached with the town, adding she was initially optimistic.
“We were quite confident. They knew the appraised value. They know what our thresholds are. They knew what we needed in terms of a condition from them,” she said.
“They really surprised us. We were actually shocked when their bid came in. They had offered us $4.2 million at one point, and they came in with $2.2 million.”
Asked about Robinson’s statement, Darte said he could not discuss it because it was dealt with by town council during an in camera meeting.
Robinson said the school board has to follow regulations when selling surplus properties, and ultimately the money earned from the property sales is used to serve students.
“The funds from that property are put in our school renewal budget. Those funds are used to upgrade other buildings,” she said. “That’s important to us.”
Israelson took exception to Robinson’s statement that the property sale would benefit students.
“For the Chair of the school board to claim that this is good for students – this is the school board that closed our high school and closed our elementary school, and has abandoned and killed public education in the Old Town of Niagaraon-the-Lake,” he said. “At the end of the day, to say that it’s good in any way for education in our community is an outrage.”
Now that the property has been sold, Israelson said he hopes representatives from Liberty Sites Ltd. will be more willing to work with the community than the previous owners.
“We don’t know anything about the developer. We hope the developer reaches out to our community hub group. There’s always room to talk to a party that will negotiate in good faith. Obviously the school board won’t, so maybe it will be different with the developer.”
Darte shared similar hopes for the future of the property.
In his statement, he said the town looks forward to “productively working with the successful bidder on all proposals presented,” while also remaining “committed to cultivating positive relationships with DSBN to ensure the best public education is available for Niagara-on-the-Lake youth.”
Meanwhile, the town has taken steps to protect the historic property.
Earlier this month, councillors approved a motion by Coun. Betty Disero, asking for a staff report on the potential of designating it as historic.
“We’ll be getting a report back on the potential for listing and designating the property, and we’re just waiting for that,” she said.
In the meantime, the property falls under the town’s interim control bylaw which Darte hopes will protect it from inappropriate uses.
A call to Liberty Sites was not returned Wednesday.
In a media release, the DSBN described the company as one of Canada’s leading private suburban business park developers, with properties in Quebec and British Columbia. ABenner@postmedia.com