Wednesday, 2 April 2014
A Bid Too Good To Refuse
We went behind closed doors last night to discuss negotiations to buy land for a post secondary institution.
It's for a satellite campus for York University.
Post secondary institutions are a provincial responsibility.
They have the tax base; Income tax, sales tax, liquor and excise tax,gaming and lottery revenues. If a way could be found to tax the air we breathe they'd do that too.
They might already, under a different guise.
Some genius at Queen's park has come up with a way of reducing the cot of a campus.
Municipalities in York Region have been invited to compete in a bid to locate a satellite .
Like offer land for a site.
The Mayors of Aurora and Newmarket, the CAO's and the Regional Councilor have put their
heads together and come up with a plan.
Behind closed doors, Council discussed the plan
Ostensibly each town will share the cost of 21 acres of developable land in Aurora . We will offer it as a gift to the province .
Aurora /Newmarket might be chosen for the satellite campus.
If the bid was successful, the land purchase could swallow up a chunk of Hydro asset money.
Or we could take on debt.
Or levy against property tax.
Or we might get help from the Region or the Province .
Or it could be an amalgam of all possibilities.
Dedication to The Province for a satellite campus means forfeiture of anticipated tax assessment and development charge revenues.
In the meantime, the Province owns two parcels of land in Aurora ,ideally suitable for a satellite campus .
Thirty acres sits vacant and idle behind Pine Ridge ,currently used by the Provincial Ministry of Transportation,
It's in the hands of Ontario Realty ,a real estate division of the Provincial government.
We negotiated for years to lease some of it for soccer fields. But they want an arm and a leg .
We can't afford to pay the province the price they want but we can afford to make them a gift costing our taxpayers millions.
Thirty Acres of High Tor farm is table land. Water, sewers and all other utilities .including access are available . It's located on Bathurst Street a major traffic artery .
It also sits vacant and idle, contributing nothing to the tax base or any other benefit to the community including zero,zip.nil. and nada, not a thin red dime to the tax base.
It's owned by Ontario Heritage Foundation
The Foundation also has a real estate division for handling disposition of lands they control.
As of last night , it had not apparently occurred to our particular brains trust that two excellent sites
are already available, crying out for a good purpose , right here in Aurora , already in the ownership of the Province.
If we needed a trump card . we always had two.
Possibly they were not aware. but others in the administration could have informed them had they been asked.
Even when made aware, the info was dismissed.
We have no authority over Heritage lands was the puzzling response.
Right. Unlike the control you have with an expenditure millions are proposed to acquire land to gift away.
There's a deadline for bids
The pressure is on.
It's presumed the community will be as excited by the prospect as the Economic Development Committee.
If not, it apparently matters not.
No time or need to make a business case to justify the case.
Oh Dear Me No !!!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
The operative word is " might ".
Aurora "might" be chosen.
that seems a foolish bet on which to risk taxpayers' money - we lack affordable housing. Haven't even got a decent hotel.
And, yes , we have the other 2 pieces of land sitting idle. That's the problem with councillors and staff ignorant of the Town's history.
And for High Tor, never heard of expropriation ? It was left to the entire town. Not for the use of a select few.
The only positive thing I can come up with is that this should mark the end of that 3-house Heritage Heist. This lot can't handle the real estate they already own. Good grief, they couldn't even manage to pull off the pet burial grounds !
Sattelite University campuses though can be one of the first things to be cut if budgets tighten.
The University of Guelph is pulling out of two satellite locations in Kemptville and Alfred, Ontario (near Ottawa). The University of Guelph made no mention until someone told the Mayor of North Grenville there was no tours being done for new first year students. Then the Mayor started to make some phone calls and it went from there.
The question comes down to if York was short of money, where would they cut? Consolidate the Aurora?Newmarket campus into the existing Keele Street (@ Steeles Avenue)campus would be the first. Then it would be all for not.
It is a pissing contest between towns....and incumbent mayors. Ours believes the answer to any problem is to throw money at it. Unfortunately for the residents, it is our money and he could not do an equally assertive deal with our taxes.
14:56
Again, who are the select few that get access to HighTor?
Is it because there is no fancy parking lot and entrance? Park on the street and walk in.
We will simply have to wait until York makes a decision. There are plenty of ideas and offers flowing in [ and Newmarket sounds like it might have other oars in the water as well as with Aurora ] and the university will select what is best for them.
Are you allowed to tell us the deadline and why there is such a rush ?
Michael you are so right. But I doubt Aurora, Newmarket or East Gwillimbury has a chance. Richmond Hill, Markham and Vaughan are heavy weights in the Region.
Post a Comment