| Page 10 financial commitment to support preservation of the tree stand. Further negotiations with the Province are required. Also, it is important to note that in addition to the revenue and cost sharing between the partners, Ladco advises that it receives a management fee of 5% on the gross revenues. Therefore, cost-sharing arrangements for public land acquisition between the Province and the City will also need to reflect Ladco�s management fee. Ladco itself is approaching the Province to discuss this and other possible alternatives in terms of arriving at a final determination of the amounts and forms of compensation that the City could make to the respective partners in the joint venture. Planning and Land Use Position: The administration�s position reflects the advice of the City Naturalist and the City Forrester. The administration favors acquisition of the Category One tree stand lands as a priority, subject to affordability. More importantly, the Planning, Property and Development Department is concerned that the purchase of a single acre at a price in the order of magnitude being discussed could be seen to set a precedent that would compromise the City�s ability to fund future acquisitions of public open space/sensitive lands from private owners pursuant to the objectives of Plan Winnipeg and other Council policies. The City has begun work on developing the Sensitive Lands Plan called for in Plan Winnipeg 2020 Vision. This plan will designate natural areas that are environmentally sensitive and/or significant and provide measures for the possible acquisition, preservation, protection, and maintenance of these lands. The current sensitive lands inventory appears to indicate 164 habitats covering approximately 2,000 acres in need of protection. Most of these natural areas appear to be in locations where development is not yet imminent; however, they may be before the City has an opportunity to acquire them. This Sensitive Lands Plan will not be completed in time to affect the Bois des Esprits acquisition, but the Bois des Esprits acquisition may affect the Sensitive Lands Plan. Alternatives Considered: In certain circumstances a developer might be prepared to agree to dedicate appreciably more than the normal 10% standard for open space land dedication. This could occur if, for example, a developer recognized a direct benefit resulting from the additional dedication and/or if there were compensating considerations among the other terms and conditions of development approval. In this instance, the developer has indicated that it anticipates no measurable benefits for dedicating additional land, i.e. beyond the 33 acres to be sold to the City for the Seine River waterway requirement plus the 7.5 acres of passive parkland to be dedicated. The bridge location yet to be approved (i.e. Southglen Boulevard vs. Warde Avenue vs. John Bruce) could, perhaps, still have a bearing on the developer�s willingness to provide additional dedication; however, this possibility seems remote. The waiving of development application fees has been included in the potential funding sources discussed elsewhere in this report. |