Largest Land Deal Ever Delayed Four Months For Final Payment

When it was announced it was called the largest land deal ever in the history of the City but it is going to have to wait up to four more months for final payment while work on the infrastructure continues seemingly without approval.

At Monday evening's Council meeting in a 6 - 1 vote, with Councillor Brian Swanson opposed, the City agreed to give Carpere Canada a four month extension to make its final payment to purchase of 780 acres of land in the Southeast Industrial Park.

Carpere would pay $10,000 per acre plus the establishment of a Development Levy of $49,600 per acre with the price held at this level for ten years. The Development Levy would be paid as the land was developed.

The land purchase would see Carpere use 64 acres as low density housing with the remainder slated to be sold to firms willing to establish facilities in the new Southeast Industrial Park. A park which has yet to see any construction by any tenant but the City has begun infrastructure work in preparation.

Speaking on the extension Councillor Brian Swanson said the City needed to put some teeth into the extension by charging Carpere an additional fee. He pointed to in private business there would be a fee or penalty for receiving an extension.

“I think there should be a cost to this…rest assured if we were not able to comply we would be facing legal action,” he said.

Councillor Swanson proposed an amendment to the extension approved at the October 23rd special Executive Committee meeting to charge Carpere $100,000 to grant the extension.

“(We need to add) metal to our back and that extension have a cost to it.”

Councillor Swanson criticized the City's history of granting extensions to projects such as Canadian Protein Innovation's (CPI) ill-fated $65 - $100 million pea protein fractioning plant which did not come to fruition. The main director of CPI Michael Schoenert was in German criminal court charged with bribery and corruption surrounding his former employer Emsland -Starke after the longest forensic investigation in modern German history.

CPI received three extensions from the City and the deal vanished with little fanfare.

“One thing we are good at in Moose Jaw is providing extensions to contractual agreements resulting in nothing other than a cost to the City of Moose Jaw,” he saud.

After saying he had driven out to the Southeast Industrial Park and saw on-going work Councillor Swanson asked what was happening.

Director of Engineering Josh Mickleborough replied there was “work going on out there.”

“I harken back to the day when a motion was no work (was to be) done out there until there was a tenant,” Councillor Swanson said adding that motion had now seemingly gone out the door.

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Councillor Dawn Luhning said during the special in-camera meeting - which Councillor Swanson was absent from our to a pre-planned vacation - a few council members had discussed assessing a cost for the extension. She said she could not get into greater detail due to the meeting being held in-camera and the legalities surrounding it.

So far Carpere has paid a ten percent or $780,000 deposit on the land.

Councillor Swanson said ‘in doing business there should be a cost that we mean business.”

City clerk\solicitor Myron Gulka-Teichko said the extension also benefited the City because work still needed to be done regarding such things as land titles.

“As a requirement the City needed some extra time,” Mayor Fraser Tolmie said.

In two 6 - 1 votes Council first defeated the amendment asking for $100,000 and then approved the extension with Councillor Swanson in favour of the amendment but against the extension.