Kelowna’s approach to buying waterfront parkland called 'diabolical'
Property owners along a Manhattan Point beach with no public access are ticked off at the City of Kelowna for thinking of taking it away from them.
Currently, there are 21 private properties between Rotary Marsh and city-owned land at the very tip of Manhattan Point.
“If the public would like to have access they should bloody well pay for it,” Tim Miller, who bought his home there in 2012, told iNFOnews.ca.
“What we’re asking now of all the owners who have been paying for it, and continue to pay for it, is to give it over to the rest of the citizens for free.”
Last week, Kelowna council reluctantly agreed to let staff talk to residents about the possibility of designating 10 of those properties as future parkland so eventually there could be a continuous waterfront walkway from Knox Mountain to the Bennett bridge.
“While we want to open things up to the general public, we also have to be mindful of individual neighbourhoods and the impact on people’s lives," councillor Mohini Singh later told iNFOnews.ca.
READ MORE: Kelowna council may be willing to let a handful of old-timers keep their private beach
That’s precisely the problem as Miller sees it.
“It doesn’t annoy me about the concept or the idea of what they’re wanting to do,” he said. “What annoys me is the tactic. It’s cowardly. It’s mean and, if I had less faith in human beings, I would call it absolutely diabolical what they’re doing.
“Somebody needs to call this sort of behaviour to account. Where and when does it make sense for private individual citizens to find themselves in competition with their own government? It’s twisted diabolical manipulation. It’s bad, very bad behaviour.”
City staff explained to council that the park designation is needed if the city ever wants to buy the land and turn it into park.
Owners don’t have to sell and are free to enjoy their property, redevelop it under the existing zoning or sell it. When a designated property goes on the market, the city will pay fair market value based on what the land would be appraised at if it did not have the park designation, staff said.
Therein lies the catch, from Miller's perspective.
“Look at the manipulation the government is doing in the marketplace,” Miller said. “The city is just basically waiting for one property to fall. Eventually one will. Somebody will pass away and the estate will want to sell the property and the city will jump on it and buy it.
“Who wants to get into a bidding competition with the city? The city has an unlimited bank account. Buys for cash. It doesn’t have to put any constraints on it. You’re not dealing in a competitive marketplace.”
He argued that will freeze out competitive bidding that might otherwise boost prices.
That may not prove to be the case based on some significant past purchases.
In December, the city paid $18 million for the Truswell property at the mouth of Mission Creek at three times its assessed value.
READ MORE: iN VIDEO: Kelowna pays $18M for lakefront property, triple assessed value
In 2019, it bought two properties across from the Glenmore landfill for $11.9 million, which was almost six times the assessed value.
It’s not known if there were competitive bids in those cases but there was an application to develop the Glenmore property for housing at the time the city bought it.
City staff explained to iNFOnews.ca that the appraised value of properties like Truswell took into account what the land would be worth to a developer.
While 10 of the Manhattan Point properties may get designated for future parks, the other 11 – Miller’s being one of them – are impacted just as much because property values along the whole beach will be based on selling prices in the neighbourhood, which will be lower than they might otherwise be, he said.
If he wants to redevelop his property, he would likely have to give up 20 metres to the city for a riparian buffer and walkway eating up maybe half the narrow lot.
“That would make it financially unfeasible to rebuild,” Miller said. “You wouldn’t be able to build enough square footage to make anything of any kind of value.”
While the properties are assessed at between $2.4 million and $4.3 million, many are older and most people living there would not be able to buy into the area now, he said.
“They’re smaller and older but they are immaculately kept,” Miller said. “They’re in original condition but they’re well maintained. The owners have been re-investing in them to maintain them and sustain them.
“Nobody is going to want to invest in maintaining or developing their property if they think that that’s going to happen. You’re going to get the normal slow deterioration of the neighbourhood until the city comes in and buys it at a discount. OK. Good for them.”
While the public has access to any waterfront land below the high water mark, public access could be complicated along Manhattan Beach.
“The property lines for most of my neighbours to the north extend out into the water now,” Miller said. “The beach is slowly and surely eroding there. If you want to walk on the beach, in at least half the places, you would be walking over top of people’s property. You would, arguably, have no right whatsoever to do that.”
What’s the alternative?
“Probably the smartest thing would be to turn the whole thing into an extension of Rotary Park,” Miller said. “If the city was serious and they really want to own to Manhattan Point, then they should open up their wallet and they should put an offer out to the whole neighbourhood and take it and do their redevelopment plan.”
That’s just what councillor Luke Stack asked city staff. Why not buy all the properties?
He was told staff wanted to present an economically feasible proposal.
The assessed values of the 21 properties – which is often lower than what they will sell for on the open market – totals about $72 million.
READ MORE: Why Kelowna pays way over assessed value for land it buys
“I don’t expect anybody to have any sympathy because the perception is: ‘Oh, it’s just a bunch of rich people,'” Miller said. “Most of the people who live along this street are just like every other citizen who is fortunate enough to own a home. This is their only asset. They’re counting on the value of what this is to see them off into the great unknown.”
The final decision will be made by council later this year when the full North End Plan is brought back to them in conjunction with the redevelopment of the former Tolko Mill site, just north of Manhattan Point.
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