Is there a better way for the City of St. Catharines to buy and sell city land?
St. Catharines city councillors are asking if theres a better way for the city to buy and sell land that could lead to fewer undeveloped properties, more revenue and other goals. Council voted 9-4 this week to hire a consultant to look into whether St. Catharines needs to create a municipal land development corporation or another entity to handle the citys strategic real estate needs. Councillors who spoke in favour of the idea said having an outside body focused on strategic real estate decisions could have potentially helped the city avoid getting stuck with a problematic privately-owned site like the former GM property on Ontario Street. Its a step we can take which gives us a better opportunity to be able to deal with empty parcels, to deal with concerns throughout the city, said St. Patricks Coun. Mat Siscoe during Mondays meeting. If you look at the experience in other municipalities it has made sense.  Fellow ward Coun. Karrie Porter, who asked for a staff report in November on the possibly of creating a municipal land development corporation, said the city needs to be thinking strategically. She said the City of Torontos real estate division has experts who make decisions based on councils priorities and works sometimes in partnership with developers. She said it has created thousands of units of affordable and mixed income housing. Some opportunities have passed us by because we didnt take a strategic risk by acquiring certain properties and hanging on to certain properties, she said. This isnt just about affordable housing, although its a part of it, this is about making strategic real estate decisions for taxpayers.  Currently, St. Catharines staff manage the buying and selling of land for the city. A municipal land development corporation would be an independent body separate from council and staff. Municipalities handle their real estate in different ways. Oakville and Midland each have external autonomous municipal development corporations. Torontos CreateTO is a municipal service board. Burlington is piloting an informal partnership of internal and external stakeholders. Council heard a consultant would look at the citys needs, resources and councils goals and suggest potential models tailored for the city. The estimated $50,000 cost for consulting services will come from the tax rate stabilization reserve. Some councillors were not in favour of the city getting into the development business. The city can buy and sell property as has been evidenced in the last couple of terms and probably in perpetuity, said St. Georges Coun. Sal Sorrento, who made a motion, which was defeated, to not proceed. I dont think that we should be spending $50,000 for a consultant, especially during COVID. I just cant support this fundamentally.  St. Andrews Coun. Joe Kushner said there are already real estate firms in the city that St. Catharines can use like any other person who has property. We should not be in the development business. We should not be buying land for development purposes.  Kushner said there are properties in the city that are not being developed and theres a reason for that. He said the development community considers that the demand is not there and people are not interested in those lands because of risk, whether environmental or other. Port Dalhousie Coun. Carlos Garcia agreed. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...  It seems to me were capable of doing this now. Were talking about properties owned by the city, were not talking about thousands of properties were trying to buy and sell. I dont believe the city is in the real estate sales or development business.  But Merritton Coun. Greg Miller said he didnt think the city was capable for the task at hand. We just need to look at the huge sites around the city, GM, Port Dalhousie, General Hospital to see why we need to be more involved in development in this city. We cant wait, years and years and years, he said. Miler said $50,000 pales in comparison to the potential it could give council to transform the city in an incredibly meaningful way. RELATED STORIES Council Work plan to stop PCB leak at former St. Catharines GM plant underway  I think people are sick and tired of these sites going undeveloped and not being developed in a way that benefits the community. The municipal development corporation will give us a huge leg up in being able to really transform some of these sites and the sites to come in the years to come in St. Catharines.  This is a small investment in something thats going to end up being transformational.  Mayor Walter Sendzik said what theyve seen with other municipal land development corporations is long-term revenue growth. If thats the case, Im there all day long.  How they voted:  That St. Catharines spend $50,000 to hire a consultant to assess whether the city needs a municipal land development corporation:  Yes: Mat Siscoe, Karrie Porter, Bill Phillips, Greg Miller, Dawn Dodge, Matt Harris, Lori Littleton, Kevin Townsend, Walter Sendzik  No: Carlos Garcia, Joe Kushner, Sal Sorrento, Bruce Williamson