Got a phone call from a man who is actively trying to lease or sell 45,000 sq. ft. of commercial space downtown and he doesn’t want to get caught in any plan by the city to punish vacant property owners.
Monthly Archive for January, 2009
UPDATE (January 26): The name was corrected today.
‘This investment by Homburg has reignited the issue.’— Coun. Jeff Lantz
Having a brother who was formerly in politics, I get called ‘Jeff’ quite often. But this is the first news story to mix us up.
There is one other correction to this story. Paying cash in-lieu of physical parking spaces is not an exception to the bylaw as reported. It is an option built right into the Zoning & Development bylaw.
4.47 CASH-IN-LIEU OF PARKING SPACES
.1 Council May require or accept Cash-in-lieu of Parking Spaces in any situation where a
Development Permit has been applied for and adequate or required off-street Parking cannot be
provided or, in the opinion of Council, having considered a recommendation from the Planning
Board, is unfeasible.
Related thoughts here.
Councillor says city must act on vacant downtown properties
EDITORIAL STAFF
The Guardian
23/01/09
Coun. Rob Lantz says the City of Charlottetown needs to act on the number of vacant properties in the downtown core.
The city approved a height variance request from Homburg Invest Inc. on Thursday, which paves the way for a proposed $45-million, three-phase development to go ahead.
Homburg is moving ahead with plans to construct an eight-storey office building on Fitzroy Street, a 10-storey hotel on Grafton Street and major renovations to the interior and exterior of Confederation Court Mall.
Lantz said if Homburg is going to show that much faith in downtown Charlottetown the city corporation should help mitigate the risk by making sure the core is firing on all cylinders.
“That can’t happen when a significant number of important buildings are left empty and in such a state of disrepair that they can’t even be leased, even if the owner was prepared to lease them,’’ Lantz said.
“We need to engage the owner of these properties, along with the two other levels of government and the business community, and find a way to get these spaces back in the market, whatever that takes.’’
Homburg has launched a $5-million lawsuit against Nemir Tweel Corp. Ltd., Christopher Tweel and two companies identified only as 2950243 Canada Inc. and 100946 P.E.I. Inc., all which own a number of properties in the downtown, alleging the properties are rundown and affect the developer’s current business (Confederation Court Mall) and what they are currently planning to do.
“If the owners are unwilling to make the necessary investments, perhaps
they should sell instead of sitting on these properties. They’re too important to sit empty.’’
Rob Paterson has a thoughtful post about the reliance of municipalities on property taxes and the precarious position that creates for both the municipality and the taxpayer. This is going to be a very difficult budget year for the City of Charlottetown. It always was going to be difficult, but the Provinces unilateral decision to shift to a tax grant system has created even more uncertainty and handicapped the City even further.
It’s been a long time since I updated this feature. The calls and emails are coming steadily on a number of issues from snow clearing and drive-thrus, to condos and vacant buildings in the downtown.
There is no moratorium. I was asked to consider the idea, and I agreed to take it to my committee, but that is a routine courtesy that I extend to any councillor, not a commitment to impose a moratorium. I personally don’t think it’s necessary.
We will certainly be careful to scrutinize any future requests so we have some confidence that a drive-thru can accommodate the expected volume of traffic, but I would also remind the public not to line up in a public right-of-way. I will ask the Chief of Police to enforce this if necessary.
This isn’t a new problem, and to my knowledge there’s never been a serious incident as a result. However, I do recognize the concerns, and I want to deal with them. There is no question the line ups are creating a traffic impediment, but we can’t collectively punish every business that has, or wants, a drive-thru because of the popularity of a handful of Tim Horton’s.
I will be meeting with the Police & Bylaw Enforcement Committee later this month for the first time since becoming chair. We will decide on a course of action then. I still think a cooperative approach will result in the best overall solution.
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