City Buys Parking Lot & Creates Park

Purchase and exchange agreements to assist with parking and park creation

A new agreement between the City of Nanaimo and a local land owner is set to improve the availability of parking spaces downtown while a second agreement will take steps towards further protecting Departure Bay as a riparian area and natural park.
Key features of the agreements included:
Acquisition of 295/299 Selby Street

• The City has signed a purchase and sale agreement with Longwood Station Ltd to acquire lands located at 295/299 Selby Street, in the Old City Quarter. The two vacant lots are 1,565 m2 (0.38 acre) in size. The City has entered into an interim licence of occupation agreement which will expire when the lands transfer to the City in the fall of 2014
• The two lots are valued at $500,000. The City acquired the lands in exchange for agreeing to extend Linley Valley Drive 275 meters east from Turner Road to service lands owned by Longwood Station Ltd’s parent company, Insight Holdings Ltd.
• The rationale for the acquisition is to increase public parking in the Old City Quarter and to facilitate the development of lands on Linley Valley Drive. The lands are a long-term hold that can be redeveloped in the future.

Acquisition of Lands on Departure Bay Creek

• The City has entered into a land exchange agreement with Likem Investments and James Dunn to acquire 4 acres (1.6 ha) of land through 17 titled lots between Departure Bay Road and James Street. In exchange, the City is trading two City owned single family homes on Rutherford Road which are of equal value.
• The exchange will further protect Departure Bay Creek as a riparian area and natural park. The acquired lands will be added to Woodstream Park which is currently 3.5 acres (1.4ha) in size.

James Dunn and Bert King, owners of the Departure Bay lands said:

“We purchased the property 25 years ago because of its beauty and park like feel. We had hoped to live there or have it as a place for our family. However, we are happy that it’s going for a bigger and better use – that is for the people of Nanaimo to enjoy for all time”

“We are grateful to the City of Nanaimo for having worked towards this goal. Financially it may have been better for us to have seen this prop