The Town of Huntsville may have an uphill battle trying to get its money back for a property it purchased at the beginning of 2015 for $240,000.
Negotiations for the 0.23-acre (926.5 square metres) property located at 254 Marsh Road, which contains about a 1,000 square foot bungalow, began with the previous council. Just before the October 2014 election, it approved a $5,000 non-refundable deposit for the purchase of the property pending the approval and finalization of the sale by the current council. The current council agreed to move forward with the purchase during closed session discussions on December 22, 2015.
The rationale for the purchase was to secure a second entrance to an expanded McCulley-Robertson Recreation Park. “One of the plans identified in it that eventually down the road we might need a second entrance for McCulley, so when the opportunity came up council decided it was in their best interest to purchase that building to allow for future access to McCulley-Robertson,” explained Town CAO Denise Corry.
The Town has since severed a sliver (97.4 square metres or 0.024 acres) of land, which will enable it to extend Marsh Road East to the sports complex, should the need arise. It will not be the customary 66-foot road allowance. It will be narrower in order to maintain a three-metre distance between the expanded road and the house. (See a PDF of the land survey here.)
“We could match the existing Marsh Road construction which has 6.7 metres of paved surface, plus a 1.5-metre paved bike lane and one-metre ditch on the north side of the road which would still maintain the three-metre distance from the existing house,” stated Stephen Hernen, Director of Operations and Protective Services for the Town in a report to the municipality’s General Committee on July 26, 2017.
The idea behind severing a portion of the property and then putting the remainder, plus the house, back on the market was to try and recoup some of the $240,000 (plus expenses) the municipality dished out in the first place.
“That’s why we severed it off to ensure that we were trying to get some value back from what we spent on it,” said Corry.
The remainder of the property (834.1 square metres or 0.2 acres) was listed with the Town’s realtor of record, Coldwell Banker, on December 6, 2017 for $225,000 but the listing comes with a warning telling prospective buyers that the house has evidence of mould and to enter at their own risk. You can find that listing here.
Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison and Councillor Brian Thompson — both real estate agents — have recused themselves of any council or committee discussions regarding the property due to a possible conflict of interest.
The Town purchased the lands from Frederick William Farnsworth and Mary Joan Farnsworth.
Note: this post has been updated to clarify the size of the property
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Why didn’t the current Council just vote to lose the $5000 deposit. Then they could have expropriated the “sliver” of land for roadway purposes under the Highway Traffic Act. Did they not consult the Public Works department? Far too many decisions appear to be made by lay people; instead of by the people with the expertise.
I agree, a second access road into and out of M-R park is needed, but to use Marsh Road is a travesty for the people who bought homes on a quiet little dead -end street. It puts an exit ramp off the highway and a busy little road (Marsh Rd.) together on an already busy thoroughfare. Take a drive over there sometime and drive off the highway using the off ramp and see how obstructed that corner is with shrubbery on the OPP property. The line of sight is horrid.
How and why was this Huntsville asset
allowed to deteriate to this condition?