City wants to buy back property on The Kingsway
Sold to developer but is now too significant for development
A wetland-covered property near Costco that the city sold to a developer in 2016 may soon be repurchased by the city, at a cost of roughly $1 million, if councillors agree to the staff proposal on Monday.
The property at 550 The Kingsway – across the road and to the northwest of Costco — was sold to developer Embee in November 2016 for a retail development.
But the development was never built, and in the meantime questions have been raised about whether the wetland on the property may warrant special environmental protection.
In March 2017, the nearby Harper Creek Wetland received a new evaluation from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests (MNRF); it was upgraded to provincially significant status (meaning it cannot be developed).
Although the wetland at 550 The Kingsway is not one and the same, it hasn’t been evaluated – and a new city staff report says it may be hydraulically connected to Harper Creek Wetland.
If so, then it too would be considered a provincially-significant wetland (and couldn’t be developed).
A new city staff report recommends that council buy the property back from Embee.
The city is under no obligation to do so, the report explains, since it wasn’t known at the time of the sale that the wetlands at
550 The Kingsway could poten-
tially be provincially-significant.
But buying back the land could allow the city to be “a good environmental steward,” the report states. “The best way to ensure the environmental health of the area is to own the area.”
The property is next to the new casino property – and the report explains that the city can develop a better stormwater system if it owns 550 The Kingsway.
“A much better and more sustainable stormwater management-related scenario can be developed if 550 The Kingsway is included in the plans for stormwater management related to the casino, hotel and road improvements planned for this area.”
The report doesn’t have any details on how the city could use the property for those purposes without harming the wetland.
City staff recommends the land purchase, in its report – even though all the money in the reserve fund for property acquisitions has already been earmarked for future purchases.
Still, there’s currently money in the fund – and city staff recommends using it now to buy 550 The Kingsway.
Staff promised a later report on how they will find money elsewhere in the budget to replenish the reserve fund.
On Monday councillors are expected to vote on the proposed purchase and then ratify the plan on the same evening. That’s because the Shorelines Casino Peterborough is almost ready to open (although no opening date has been announced yet).
The issue will be discussed at 5:15 p.m. on Monday at City Hall.