BUSBY — A potentially contaminated lot in Busby, that’s been described as an “eye-sore” and a “hot topic” for the community, has been purchased by the Community League in the hopes of turning it into a useful space.
For now, there are no definite plans for what to do with the 0.99-acre plot of land that’s adjacent to the school. Jennifer Stoby, president of the Community League, spoke of it more in terms of “possibility,” largely because of the economic situation.
"It wasn't upkept, and there was an ugly fence around it. We had a community member already come out and remove the fence. We're keeping it mowed so it looks a little bit neater and nicer,” said Stoby.
“We've just decided to maintain the lot and, in the future, have that land available.”
Because the Busby Elementary School sometimes needs additional parking, the lot could temporarily be used for that.
The “big dream” for the property, however, is to make use of it for the entire community.
“Unfortunately, our community hall is getting really old and what would be really awesome was if we could build a joint community hall, maybe a larger gym for the school,” Stoby said.
“But that's a pipe dream,” she added, since it would require extensive fundraising and grant money.
The community’s preoccupation with the lot has been ongoing since before Stoby’s tenure as president.
“The people who owned it at that point in time put a fence around it and had trouble maintaining it because they weren't able to use it how they wanted it to be used,” she said.
In 2009, the previous owners learned of a possible contamination when they initiated the process of getting a vehicle storage facility built there. A neighbour appealed it because a gas station used to be on that lot.
At the time, administration asked the owner to do an environmental assessment on the site to determine contamination, but they never received an application. The land remained undeveloped, and the contamination unverified.
It made its way into the community league’s hands because the property had three years’ worth of unpaid taxes on it and ended up on the county’s tax sale list in November 2019 for $4,390.
“A community member of ours purchased it in honour of us, holding that land until we were able to purchase it from him,” said Stoby.
"We do want to thank Properzi Tims Barristers and Solicitors because they did all the transactions pro bono for us, that was a really great boost also, on top of the donation from the firefighters."
Ultimately the Busby firefighters — Stoby clarified that it wasn’t the fire department, but the firefighters independently — donated their per diems for the lot purchase.
But when the property’s bid value came up in council Nov. 26, 2019 Coun. Jared Stitsen — also the fire chief in Busby — inclined toward donating the lot to the school or the community league then, as opposed to putting it up for sale.
Coun. Dennis Primeau agreed, but the reigning opinion was that the county should try to recover some of the money it had lost in unpaid taxes.
The tax assessor’s opinion was that the property shouldn’t be listed for sale because of the possible contamination. “It should likely be treated as a greenfield and not taken for tax recovery due to the fact the contamination would then be the county’s responsibility,” the assessor wrote in the report.
Director of corporate services Diane Urkow, whose opinion council ultimately followed, commented that tax sale values should be as close to a property’s market value as possible.
