Blind River council is looking at how it will deal with municipally owned property.
Discussion revolves around a survey of owned lands and various measures that could be considered by council including rezoning and selling properties. For the town to sell any of its properties, council would have to declare the land as surplus to allow for it to be sold.
Tulloch Engineering planner Kevin Jarus presented council with an extensive report outlining options that could be considered by council.
“This report provides a summary of the properties recommended for pre-zoning including an implementation plan and next steps to complete the zoning by-law amendments of certain municipally-owned lands,” the planner said in his report. “This report also summarizes public survey results and details how public consultation efforts guided the identification of properties proposed for pre-zoning.”
The review was undertaken to make council aware of its holdings and how it can deal with its land as part of a town-wide view of overall landholdings when it comes to development in the future.
“This review determined that the Town of Blind River owns a large number of properties which do not currently provide a benefit to the municipality and may be better suited for private ownership,” Jarus said in his report. “Thus, the Town wants to add unused properties to its surplus land registry.”
Land may be resold, if council decides, for economic development opportunities, housing supply and reducing municipal costs relating to maintenance of properties as part of its options.
At its October 18 virtual meeting, council decided to sell off a parking lot associated with a Hudson Street apartment building to reduce annual maintenance paid by the town.
The recommendation to sell the property was based on a report by director of public services Mark Bender. He said the housing complex was taken over by the Algoma District Services Administration Board (ADSAB) in 2019 and residents have been using the lot to park vehicles while it is maintained by the town.
It was also used for parking at the courthouse which is now slated for demolition.
“We have fielded complaints mainly from the residents of 12 Hudson regarding snow removal and the dumpster being emptied in the early mornings,” Bender said in his report. “Public works staff have expressed concerns about vehicles being parked in the lot during snow removal. ADSAB was approached last winter to request residents that were using the lot for overnight parking to at least keep the vehicles parked in designated spots and not spread out in the lot."
"This approach was difficult for them to monitor as residents don’t always adhere to the request," said Bender. "We do not allow overnight parking in the other town parking lots and the vehicles left overnight create difficulties to complete proper snow removal and as a result creates a liability issue for the town.”
Since plans are to demolish the Court House, there is no real need at the present time for the town to continue to maintain or possibly even continue ownership of this parking lot, Bender added.
ADSAB will be approached about possibly purchasing the lot council decided.
The long-term land evaluation will continue and will include public consultation when required.