Eaglecrest Golf Land Acquisition update #1

In the July 23rd quarterly Town Hall Committee of the Whole Meeting, where members of the public can ask a questions directly to town council, this writer asked "What external due diligence has been undertaken to determine that the $8.5 million dollar price for the proposed purchase is appropriate?

The reply from the Mayor was that "They are still doing due diligence on the property itself, the buildings and environmental and all that. But the number is far too much as far as an appraisal, more than double. But it's not based on the fact that we would be trying to run it as a golf course and make a profit. This is for long term investment, forever. Once the town controls it, there's no longer speculation as to who might own it or what can be done with it. And it still has the possibility of a nine hole golf course and about a 40 acre parkland, but also very importantly, the hub, the building, the barn that actually was the barn at one time, built about 100 years ago and is now the clubhouse. It is also a center for the community and it has a magnificent ballroom or a banquet room rather, that needs some improvements, but also the opportunity for us to take that in as a town owned asset. I think, as you probably heard me say before, once in a generation opportunity to do that. There's been so much speculation since the current owners bought it about the future of the golf course, the maintenance of it, how its been operated, and what's going on inside. So this will open it up to the community for a long term. I think huge benefit."

My take away from this response is that no formal external due diligence has been done to date to validate the purchase price. Further external validation is not likely to happen as council has already concluded that even if the $8.5 million price is double what an appraisal would show, the price is reasonable given council's perception of the long term benefits.

That begs further questions:

1) What do those perceived long term benefits truly consist of, and do they benefit all QB tax payers equally. Are these assets needed now or in the near future as we already have both a municipally owned golf course and the 50 acre heritage forest property within town boundaries . We already own land in Eaglecrest and other areas that could be developed for housing. What is the urgency driving this transaction when we have many competing uses for tax payer funded monies.

2)Beyond the initial purchase price, how much money and staff time will be required to actually realize the anticipated benefits?

3) What are the ongoing costs to maintain these benefits and how will these costs be funded?

4) Are similar benefits achievable by leaving the property in private hands and using our town powers to control land use and/or development? ( It is my understanding that some of the of the property is currently subject to registered covenant's that limit the use of the property to recreational use.)

5) What are the trade offs we are making to facilitate this purchase.*

Notwithstanding that this is a significant purchase that was not anticipated in our strategic plan nor current budget, no referendum or alternative approval process is envisioned at this time. Public input is limited to the non binding public engagement sessions which are anticipated to start in August.

It remains early in the public engagement process and I and others no doubt, will be looking for more answers.

Update: We now have a partial answer to the "trade offs question" above.

Subsequent to completing this article, Council passed a motion in a later meeting, to defer/postpone over 70 initiative's underway in the town's strategic and financial plans to facilitate the work necessary to proceed with the due diligence and funding to enable the land purchase. Many of those deferred initiative's involve allocated monies and or staff time through out the planned horizon of 2025 to 2029. This includes major projects such as Bus Garage site , Saahtlam Park, Pickleball Courts, Workplace Modernization for the works yards, fire department strategic plan, Cinema, Parking strategy, Affordable housing, Senior center expansion and more.

Marie Noel

July 23 2025

More info

Watch the July 23 2025 town hall meeting here

See the agenda for Special Council Meeting July 23 2025 outlining all the initiatives affected.

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