A company providing assisted living and long-term care for seniors is not happy with how much it's being paid in a land expropriation for the site of a new Central Saanich municipal hall.
Park Place Seniors Living did not want to sell, and say even if they did, the amount offered was not enough.
"We were forced into this," said Lina Saba, a Park Place spokesperson.
The land in question is a 2.22 acre parcel owned by Park Place since 2006. The company also owns a lot next to it that is 2.61 acres.
The District of Central Saanich needs a new municipal hall and tried to buy both lots. When negotiations failed because Park Place did not want to sell, the district used its powers of expropriation to force through the purchase one of the lots.
Central Saanich initially had the lot appraised for $3.1 million, but when Park Place scoffed at that number, the district had the appraisal updated and increased the offer to $4.64 million.
Park Place still did not want to sell, arguing the land was worth as much as $7.2 million. And Saba said the company had received other offers for the land, saying the company had turned those offers down. The district reviewed this appraisal, and according to a spokesperson found it to be overvaluing the property.
Central Saanich Mayor Ryan Windsor says the purchase of this land is a necessary move cost-wise and operationally for the district, and that Park Place was not doing anything with the property.
"That decision was not taken lightly," he said. "I think they've acknowledged that they've owned it for nearly 20 years, and have not moved forward."
Windsor says the property ticks all the boxes for a project the district has needed for almost the same amount of time the Park Place lots have sat empty.
"We were looking for land inside the urban containment boundary of Central Saanich, not in the agricultural land reserve," he said. "And after a fairly exhaustive search this land was identified as meeting the criteria."
So, the district reached out to Park Place.
"We began to negotiate with Park Place. After many, many months, those negotiations ultimately did not yield a result," Windsor said. "And so the district was left with the option only to expropriate."
He also pointed out the old municipal hall can now be redeveloped, so new housing could still come out of the deal even though it may mean less space for assisted living or long-term care.
"And those things certainly will be done with consultation with the public as we move forward," he said.
But Saba contends that the lack of long-term care facilities on the Island and wait times for the ones that do exist mean this property should be used for that purpose.
She said Park Place has tried several times to work with Island Health to get a facility built, and though have been unable to get a deal done so far, the company had been hopeful it could win a contract to build one at some point in the future.
"It's clear that there is a long-term care crisis in the province," Saba said. "It's clear that we do not have enough units."
At this point, Saba is not sure if there is any legal recourse for her company, other than to take the district to court to try to get more money for the property.
"The only route we have now is to try to get fair market value through legal means," Saba said. "We're kind of shifting our focus to what we might be able to still do with a lot that we still have."
Expropriation is a legal right that municipalities can exercise to obtain land. Windsor said the whole process was undertaken properly and went through council several times. This was in closed door sessions, as is customary with land acquisition decisions in all B.C. municipalities, he said.
"I'm quite confident that the due diligence done by the district would stand up to any challenge," he said.
The district is now planning several engagement sessions to gather input from the public on both the new development on the Park Place property, as well as the current municipal hall site. The first of these sessions will be at the Centre for Active Living at 1209 Clarke Road on Tuesday, July 30 between 4:30 and 7 p.m.
