Town council passed a bylaw authorizing the completion of a three-way development land swap on the site of the former Harriston Senior School property on George Street.
The land trade involving Metzger Construction, Quality Homes and the Town of Minto was concluded at the March 22 council meeting.
The town agreed to accept a triangular-shaped parcel of land from Metzger Construction, at a nominal fee, to increase the size of the town park and pond on the development, currently owned by Metzger construction.
The parcel will be included with lands to be conveyed to Quality Homes as part of the transaction. Council declared the land, less than 0.29 acres in size, as surplus to the needs of the town at the March 7 meeting.
The agreement calls for Quality Homes to pay all surveying costs and a purchase price of $6,000.
The land swap is intended to facilitate the sale – from Metzger Construction to Quality Homes – of a portion of the former school property, the site of a planned 23-unit townhouse project.
A mandatory appraisal of the fair market value of the land, completed by Larry Zion’s S.W. Irvine and Associates, came as a surprise to town officials, as the property was assessed at about $40,000 – or over $143,000 per acre.
“This is ten times the value of the same land five years ago,” notes a report from CAO Bill White.
“The appraiser sets out his reasoning in his report on the value of the land, which he says factors in the fact that the land is not serviced and has no frontage on a public street.
“Metzger Construction paid the town $105,000 for 6.33 acres or about $16,587 per acre. In 2012 when the town purchased from the school board the price was $60,000 for the full 7.78 acre site or $7,712 per acre.”
White noted that while council does not have to sell the land for the appraised value, the appraised value is required to be publicly disclosed.
“There’s some economies of scale and other justifications (the appraiser) gave, but when I established the price at $21,000 per acre, or $6,000, I thought that was a fairly good increase,” White stated at the meeting.
The CAO indicted that since no agreement of purchase and sale has been finalized, council could ask Quality Homes to improve the price. He told council Quality Homes has offered to consider a contribution to improving the parkland.
However, White recommended council consider the bylaw authorizing the signing of documents to conclude the transfer from Metzger Construction and sale to Quality Homes.
“If there is an improvement in price or a corresponding commitment to improve the park, these terms can be written into the site plan agreement should Quality Homes conclude their purchase from Metzger Construction and proceed to develop the site,” White explains in the report.
The report states that regardless of the final price, proceeds from the sale should be held in the parkland reserve and made available for future improvements to the town’s remaining park and pond property.
