Nobody mentioned them when the property was purchased

Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader

When somebody buys a piece of property, whose job is it to find out if there are any development charges owing on it? In Slave Lake, it apparently comes down to a case of ‘buyer beware.’

In other words, do your due diligence, because something might be hiding in the weeds.

In the case of the former Forestry/Fish & Wildlife property on 4th Ave. NE, something was hiding in the weeds; nobody informed the Koinonia Christian School Society (KCSS) that an $84,000 fee was owing on it when they purchased it in 2020.

This was some of the background on the story which Slave Lake town council heard at its Sept. 6 meeting.

Jumping to the end of the story, council sympathized and voted in favour of a motion to waive the fee, letting the new owners off the hook.

According to the report in council’s agenda package, the development charge owing on the property arose when the town redeveloped the lane running from 4th Ave. NE up to 6th Ave. NE, back in 2014. It had become apparent that with the Points West project being contemplated, an upgrade was necessary. It was decided at the time that the cost of the storm water portion of the project would be split between the Points West site and the Government of Alberta site. A fire lane was also constructed, between the two properties, adding to the cost.

The report says when the school group bought the land from the province, no request was made to the town for any information. Whether the province was aware of the development charge is a question that apparently can’t be answered at this point. Whether they were aware or not, they hadn’t paid it, and didn’t tell the KCSS it was still owing.

“It is also worthy of note,” says the report, that for the past 10 years the town’s planning department has been advising local law offices about off-site levies and developer contributions to town infrastructure improvement costs. This is done, at least partly, because the current processes that govern the give-and-take between the municipality and land purchasers do not require, or accommodate the placing of caveats on land titles. So to avoid exactly the kind of nasty shock the KCSS got, the town has been encouraging lawyers to find out about such outstanding charges and let their clients know about them.

But that apparently wasn’t done in this case.

It isn’t up to the town to let land purchasers know what’s what when they buy, council heard. In fact, the town often doesn’t even know about such transactions. When it does find out about them is when development permits or changes in zoning are applied for. It’s at that point that the information could have – and probably should have – been passed on.

“I wish to point out that there is a due diligence requirement on both parties,” said department director Laurie Skrynyk in her written report.

Councillors had the usual set of concerns, one being whether waiving one property owner’s fee would open any can of worms. Not likely, was the answer.

Councillors were also interested in finding out if the town can do more to ensure new property owners know what’s attached to their purchases. We already go above and beyond what most municipalities do, Skrynyk said, in communicating with the lawyers.

Councillor Shawn Gramlich asked an interesting question. Even if the town had notified the KCSS early on about the fee, “would they have come with the same request?”

“No doubt in my mind,” said Skrynyk.

But given that the town did drop the ball at some point, and given the fact it’s a school, councillors – as noted – were inclined to give the applicant a break.

“Even if everyone had done everything right, we would likely still do it,” said mayor Warman, concluding the discussion. “I would.”