City has financial motivation for holding up Parker project, developer’s lawyer alleges

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This article was published 09/04/2018 (2772 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The lawyer for developer Andrew Marquess said the city’s refusal to process the application for the Parker housing development appears driven by an effort to reduce the value of nearby land city hall expropriated from Marquess and the opposition from a key member of Mayor Brian Bowman’s executive policy committee.

Lawyer Kevin Toyne said Marquess’s proposal for a mixed residential project consisting of more than 1,900 units alongside the second phase of the southwest transit corridor complies with all of the city’s policies for transit-oriented development, adding there is no valid or legal reason for the city not to proceed with it.

“The city is stalling this particular application to try to get an inappropriate upper hand in that dispute,” with Marquess over the value of the appraised land, Toyne told reporters.

Marquess and Toyne were at city hall Monday morning to challenge the planning department’s decision not to process the rezoning and subdivision plans for the Parker project.

But the hearing didn’t happen after Toyne requested that committee chairman Coun. John Orlikow recuse himself from the session, which prompted the committee to postpone the hearing to allow Orlikow time to respond to the request.

Marquess is proposing a massive multi-residential and commercial development, known as Fulton Grove, on a 47-acre parcel of land south of the CNR Rivers rail line west of Pembina Highway and immediately north of the second stage of the southwest transit corridor.

Toyne said he wanted Orlikow — the area councillor — removed from the hearing because of his long-standing opposition to development on the Parker property. Toyne said that recent emails from Orlikow and posts he made on social media reveal his continued opposition to development and Marquess’ ownership of the land.

Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) denied any bias against the project and city officials said they couldn’t accept the rezoning and subdivision application until a formal area plan for the neighbourhood had been approved by council.

John Kiernan, the city’s director of planning, property and development, said the department hadn’t judged Marquess’s proposal, adding it’s “premature” until a larger plan for the entire neighbourhood, including the Parker lands, has been approved by council.

Fulton Grove: proposed residential development on the Parker lands

Orlikow described the Marquess project as “exciting” and is looking forward to it going to a public hearing at some time but he said the allegations against him are “unfortunate” and unjustified.

Orlikow said that as a member of the committee, he’s required to be open-minded “no matter what my personal preferences are.”

Orlikow said he’s been following the advice of the administration and denied he’s put pressure on the department to stall the project.

Marquess said he’s followed the procedures city hall laid out for him on the project, adding its refusal to deal with the rezoning and subdivision is puzzling.

Marquess produced an Oct. 30, 2015 email from the city’s chief planner, Braden Smith, who told him both the area plan and the rezoning and subdivision applications “could be moved forward concurrently,” and both applications would “be considered at the same public hearing.”

Marquess said the city’s insistence now that the applications be treated separately is a continuation of the bad-faith dealings he’s had with city hall since acquiring the property in the controversial land swap in 2009.

“I’ve been treated like crap by (city hall)… and this is just more of the same,” he told the Free Press.

Marquess acquired the 59-acre Parker lands in 2009 in a controversial land swap with city hall. His company, Gem Equities, later acquired another 14 acres of nearby land from CN Rail. The city expropriated 24.5 acres of the parcel — most of that (16.5 acres) to accommodate a giant storm-retention pond, four acres to accommodate the relocation of Manitoba Hydro transmission lines for the transit corridor, and another four acres needed for the construction of the corridor itself.

The expropriation for the retention pond was controversial after a 2015 inquiry concluded civic officials had misled Marquess and the actions of several civic officials had been secretive and dishonest in their dealings with him.

But development on the site has been contentious. Environmental groups opposed the land swap and protesters occupied the property last summer to block the removal of trees. Marquess had to go to court to enforce an eviction order against the protesters and has since sued the leaders of the group and many of the protesters.

Toyne said he’s concerned the city could lower the value of the land by restricting the type of development that’s permitted to take place, adding that will impact the value of the almost 25 acres expropriated by the city. Marquess has valued the expropriated land at $1.7 million an acre, for total of almost $35 million; while the city has offered Marquess $116,500 per acre, about $2.4 million.

If the two sides are unable to agree on a price for the property, the issue will be argued before the Land Value Appraisal Commission.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca