keoadmin
12-29-2005, 03:53 AM
PUBLIC ACCESS AT AN UNKNOWN PRICE
Beg to differ with The Heritage's Bill Hutchins, who touts the city's $1.3 million acquisition of the Queen Street dock as a good deal all around. The purchase price may be attractive but the long-term risk potential could be a different story.
The Queen Street dock is an environmental albatross as bad as, or worse than, the north block in terms of coal tar contamination. Spencer Brown, the owner and a successful hotel developer outside Kingston, is unloading this piece of property behind Tim Horton's on Ontario Street after trying, and failing, for years to secure construction financing for a waterfront hotel. Last we heard, this development could not get financial backing. Why? Because banks won't lend money on contaminated property.
So the city - which is responsible for the coal tar in the first place and could have agreed to clean up the site or claimed some environmental liability that might have gained Mr. Brown some leniency with the banks - sat back and did nothing while Mr. Brown burned through a pile of his own cash in an effort to pull a hotel construction project together. Then, when Mr. Brown failed in his endeavour, the city bought the land at what was probably a fire sale price.
Maybe the price is a steal for Kingston taxpayers. Maybe the city felt it needed to own the whole dock instead of just getting the public-access waterfront walkway that was part of Mr. Brown's development proposal. And maybe the city, knowing the site can't be developed privately because of the environmental mess, just took on a whole lot of hidden risk that could cost taxpayers exponentially more than $1.3 million in the long run.
-- I.M.Pertinent
Beg to differ with The Heritage's Bill Hutchins, who touts the city's $1.3 million acquisition of the Queen Street dock as a good deal all around. The purchase price may be attractive but the long-term risk potential could be a different story.
The Queen Street dock is an environmental albatross as bad as, or worse than, the north block in terms of coal tar contamination. Spencer Brown, the owner and a successful hotel developer outside Kingston, is unloading this piece of property behind Tim Horton's on Ontario Street after trying, and failing, for years to secure construction financing for a waterfront hotel. Last we heard, this development could not get financial backing. Why? Because banks won't lend money on contaminated property.
So the city - which is responsible for the coal tar in the first place and could have agreed to clean up the site or claimed some environmental liability that might have gained Mr. Brown some leniency with the banks - sat back and did nothing while Mr. Brown burned through a pile of his own cash in an effort to pull a hotel construction project together. Then, when Mr. Brown failed in his endeavour, the city bought the land at what was probably a fire sale price.
Maybe the price is a steal for Kingston taxpayers. Maybe the city felt it needed to own the whole dock instead of just getting the public-access waterfront walkway that was part of Mr. Brown's development proposal. And maybe the city, knowing the site can't be developed privately because of the environmental mess, just took on a whole lot of hidden risk that could cost taxpayers exponentially more than $1.3 million in the long run.
-- I.M.Pertinent