False Creek residents are upset that developer Concord Pacific is paying the same amount of property tax on a 9.5-acre parcel of waterfront land as homeowners pay on a small condominium.
False Creek Residents Association (FCRA) member Merv Therriault has consequently filed an appeal with the Property Assessment Appeal Board of British Columbia because he believes BC Assessment’s $400,000 assessed value for the property between Carrall Street and Science World is far too low.
The FCRA hired a former BC Assessment assessor who valued the property at $72 million based on a comparison with similar privately owned undeveloped park sites in the downtown core, said FCRA spokesman Sean Bickerton.
Bickerton, a former city council candidate for the opposition Non Partisan Association, said that even if $20 million were to be removed from the FCRA’s assessed value for the property to take into account the costs needed to create the park, it would still be valued at $52 million.
Concord Pacific would then have to pay nearly $1 million in city property taxes instead of the roughly $4,000 that it currently pays for the site.
“Why isn’t the city appealing that assessment?” Bickerton asked.
“We wrote to them and asked the city to take action. They said they can’t do that in every instance. It would be too expensive and costly. It cost $180.”
Bickerton then alleged that the city didn’t appeal the assessment because Concord Pacific has long been reported as a major donor to Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Vision Vancouver party.
In addition to more than $140,000 in donations, Concord Pacific is widely reported to have provided city councillors with yacht rides to watch fireworks, dinners and other freebies.
But Robertson was quick to deny that there was any connection between the donations and the city’s failure to appeal BC Assessment’s valuation for Concord Pacific’s property.
He told Business in Vancouver in an email that he asked staff to investigate the matter.
“It’s not clear what legal basis the city could challenge it on, given that there are encumbrances on the site, including the development of the land into a future park,” Robertson’s email stated.
“The assessment is the same as last year’s, and city staff do not see a reason to appeal it. As well, there was a third-party appeal filed last year that has yet to be resolved.”
BC Assessment assessor Jason Grant would not explain his rationale for the assessment because the matter is under appeal.
Everyone agrees that the land in question will eventually be a park.
The FCRA, however, believes that it’s unfair for the property to be assessed as a park while it generates revenue for Concord Pacific.
During the 2010 Olympic Games, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan all paid to have pavilions on the site, which has been home to a Concord Pacific condominium presentation centre for several years. The Cirque du Soleil has also used the site.
But Matt Meehan, Concord Pacific senior vice-president of planning, told BIV that generating revenue from the site is “sporadic.”
Concord Pacific recently filed a rezoning application with the city to provide a two-acre portion of the site as a temporary park until a permanent park is built.
Meehan said the company’s application to rezone the entire 9.5-acre site is likely next year.
He added that Concord is involved in a northeast False Creek North high level review with the city.
“There’s a number of issues that they’re working through, and they’re going to report back to council some time in the spring or early summer. After that we will be able to put in a rezoning application.”
He expects that process to take two years.