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This article was published 26/2/2015 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

David Sanders: delay vote until related studies released

Winnipeg city council unanimously approved a massive expropriation process Wednesday afternoon, despite concerns from some councillors and the public.

Council's move gives the go-ahead to the administration to formally begin expropriation of 36 parcels of land -- most of them identified for the completion of the transitway corridor, but also one large, eight-hectare parcel for a storm retention pond designed to end basement flooding in the area.

David Sanders, the administration critic and unsuccessful mayoral candidate, appeared as a delegation and asked council to defer voting on the expropriation until the administration releases several studies related to both projects.

Sanders said he became interested in the goings-on at city hall two years ago when the controversial Parker lands dogleg -- a detour that skirts 24 hectares of vacant, undeveloped land west of Pembina Highway, property the city traded to a developer in 2009 -- emerged as the preferred transitway route, instead of the more obvious corridor that ran along Pembina Highway to the University of Manitoba.

Sanders said it was at that point the transit plan became "hijacked and that public lands and financial resources were being diverted for the benefit of a few favoured developers located along the Parker dogleg."

A cloud hangs over the expropriation process because it includes taking back 9.9 hectares of land the city sold to developer Andrew Marquess in 2009 -- eight hectares for the retention pond and 1.8 hectares for the BRT corridor -- in a swap of property.

City officials said they knew they might need some of the Parker lands for the BRT corridor and included a buy-back provision when it traded property with Marquess that set the price at the 2009 value.

But officials said they didn't know they would need eight hectares -- about one-third of Marquess's property in the area -- for the retention pond. He doesn't want to sell the land, and the city will have to expropriate if they don't agree on a price.

In addition to the Marquess property, the city needs 34 other parcels of land along the transit corridor route, mostly small slivers of commercial property on or near Pembina Highway, but also including two rental duplexes and a single-family home.

Councillors spent more than an hour offering their opinions on the merits of the expropriations, and in the end, both were approved unanimously in separate votes.

Sanders said it's inconceivable city officials hadn't contemplated the need to put a giant retention pond on the Parker lands when they were negotiating with Marquess, adding the city should release the several studies that support the city's position.

Sanders had requested the documents through an access-to-information request, but the administration refused on the grounds it's considered advice to government and exempt from release.

Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) disputed Sanders' allegations, saying he was wrongly accusing councillors and administrators of participating in a criminal act.

Mayes said Sanders and other critics are trying to smear the transitway project by linking it to the scandal-plagued real estate projects of the last three years.

Coun. Janice Lukes said she supported the completion of the transitway corridor but said she and many of her St. Norbert constituents remain concerned about how the route was chosen and the benefits of the Parker detour.

"I think we have to be asking questions about the single-largest project the city is about to undertake in its history," Lukes said. "This council has inherited a troubling past, and it's our responsibility to peel back the layers and do the due diligence."

Coun. Jason Schreyer (Elmwood-East Kildonan) said the public's suspicions are justified when the administration continues to refuse to release, without valid reasons, the studies that would support their recommendations.

Coun. Russ Wyatt (Transcona) said he was concerned the administration has only offered a budget for the storm retention pond but would not put a price tag on the wider sewer upgrade project needed for the entire area.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca