The new Squamish Oceanfront Development Corp. (SODC) board will have to tackle an $8 million question, says the board's chair.
The District of Squamish subsidiary, which was set up to manage the future of the municipality's 64 acres of waterfront land, estimates it would cost $5 million to build a 12-acre park - the planned first step of the project to redevelop the Nexen lands into a "world class work-live-recreate" community.
In addition to the park's price tag, the board anticipates that a two-plus-year transition fee to market the land and bring aboard a potential partner would cost up to $3 million, said Bill McNeney, the SODC's chair.
"So we are saying that we need $8 million beyond what we have right now," he said, noting the corporation currently has a $9 million loan guarantee with the district.
In May, the corporation requested the district extend the SODC's loan guarantee from $9 million to $13.5 million, a request that was denied by council. The extra money would have helped the SODC foot the bill for the park. But Squamish Mayor Greg Gardner told the board the district will not pay for that portion of the Oceanfront plan, McNeney said.
"The new board will have to figure out the funding options," he said.
While the upcoming municipal election has brought a lot of "nervous Nellies" out of the woodwork, the SODC's debt is still sitting pretty, McNeney said. The district's land is valued at $20 million as is and jumps upward with rezoning, he noted.
"The conservative estimate of the property value is $22 million, if you have the zoning done," McNeney said. "You could put a sale sign in and say 'give us $22 million' and that is basically one option going forward."
But it's not necessarily the smartest move, he noted. By adding features, such as the park, the SODC can bump up its asking price. There is also the question of how much control the district wants to hand over to a developer and whether the project should be done piecemeal, McNeney said.
"Sometimes when you go out to a direct sale, you don't get the value that [the land] is worth," he said.
All of the preparation to get the land to this point has come at a cost, McNeney said. From the onset, the community was heavily involved in creating the vision for the oceanfront, he said. Most of that consultation was paid for by the SODC. The information gathered was then injected into the project's Sub Area Plan, which in turn guided the rezoning, which is now ready to go to public hearing. All of the fees and work put into getting the rezoning was covered by the SODC, McNeney said.
Money has also been spent on environmental work. The SODC has put hundreds of thousands of dollars into testing the former industrial land for contamination and doing necessary cleanup work. The SODC was able to secure grants for some of the remediation costs, McNeney said, noting that most of that money came with a 50/50 clause, which required the SODC to match government funding.
If the district didn't want to get into the property development game, it should have sold the land to a developer, McNeney said, but that was not what the community wanted. Residents had their say in what will be placed on the property and the SODC has made sure that's happening, he said, noting the overall 104-acre plan has been dedicated a third park, a third job creation (light industry) and a third residential.
"We put everything down that people wanted," McNeney said. "So now they are saying, 'Holy you didn't tell us it was going to be this much.' Well sorry, that's the way it is."
People aren't able to physically see the work that has been poured into the project since it began seven years ago, McNeney said, but it is miles ahead from a development and environmental standpoint from where it was a couple of years ago.
"That is where the money has essentially been spent," he said. "Every developer has to go through those hurdles. We really made sure that the wishes of the stakeholders, the community were taken into account."
