City council has turned down a recommendation to accept cash instead of municipal reserve land in the Westgreen Park area. The proposed commercial and general industrial development would be on the west side of 116th Street, south of the future 124th Avenue.
Mayor Bill Given explains that municipalities can require developers to give them land for future use as schools or parks, but that doesn’t always make sense for the neighbourhood.
“I voted against that motion because I believe that the amount of money that the city gets is not reasonable, and the land is actually far more valuable to us for any type of community use than the small amount of money that we would get.”
He adds that the city often doesn’t have the land reserves it needs to find sites for dog parks and recreation facilities, as well as spaces to meet demand of local organizations. Up to 10 per cent of land in a new subdivision or neighbourhood can be required by the city, or 10 per cent of its appraised value before it’s developed.