St. Albert will be making moves to expropriate the final piece of land to complete the historical Heritage Park, after years of failed negotiations with the private landowner.
After discussing the matter in camera on Monday, city council directed administration to “take all necessary steps to acquire by expropriation” eight lots that sit adjacent to Grain Elevator Park.
An April 2016 administrative report shows negotiations with the landowner began in 2010, but they were unwilling to accept the city’s offer. At the time, the land was valued between $507,000 and $609,000.
Funding for the expropriation would come from the municipal land and facilities reserve and, if necessary, the council contingency reserve.
The city declined to provide further details on the motion made on Monday.
Coun. Ken MacKay said St. Albert does not take the expropriation route lightly, and would rather come to a resolution with the land owner.
“We tried that in this case and we thought we’d made a fair offer and it was turned down, so we believe that in order to move forward we’re going to have to do it this way,” he said.
Previously the city had looked into working around the lots for the Heritage Park development, but MacKay said that idea was put forth before the park had progressed as much as it has now.
“We just really feel this is necessary to complete the park, just also for the safety of users,” he said.
Ann Ramsden, St. Albert Arts and Heritage Foundation executive director, declined to comment on the matter.
“We understand that the city (is) in negotiations, but we are not in a position to comment,” she said.
Currently Tee Bar Sod has a five-year lease on the land, and owner Tom Barchuk said he uses the land as a work yard for storage and repairs.
Barchuk said should the land be claimed by the city, his business would be impacted “not greatly,” because the work yard is conveniently located to the sod farm.
The landowner was unavailable for comment.
