Port Colborne to attach fee to land sale applications

Port Colborne is going to charge a $300 application fee to people who make inquiries about buying city land only to change their mind after staff spend time and effort on it.

On Monday, city council approved an amended recommendation by planning staff to charge the fee.

The update to the city’s land sale policy was initiated following a number of inquiries including one in the past year when staff spent many hours obtaining values, reviewing offers, plans, preparing offers and reports only to receive notice that the requesters were no longer interested in purchasing the land.

Planning director Dan Aquilina estimated he himself spent a week’s worth of time over the course of a year on the file, time that could have been better spent on other duties.

“It was as if I was donating time to this individual,” he said.

The new policy will only deal with lands that are not already deemed surplus, meaning the city is receiving an unsolicited offer. It will require the fee be submitted at the same time as the application form.

The $300 application fee would then be deducted from the purchase price, but it would be forfeited if a purchaser decides to back out of the purchase.

The original staff recommendation also included a provision that the fee be forfeited if council denies the request, but several councillors expressed reservations about that, and it was amended.

“Why would the purchaser lose their $300 because council says no?” Dave Elliott asked.

The Ward 1 councillor also said he has no problem with people ‘kicking the tire’ about purchasing property and changing their mind, as that’s just the way real estate works.

“I encourage people come in to kick our tires. I encourage people to come in and see if the city has something for sale,” he said. “Sometimes it turns into a big deal. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s worth the risk.”

But most councillors see the importance of assigning a value to lost staff time. Ward 2 Coun. Angie Demarais said the fee would not dissuade people who are serious about making an offer.

“This is taking away that paid work from work that is important for what may turn out to be window shopping,” she said.