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City has not appealed assessed value of Concord Pacific park site
Continued from page 4 “When the city and the park board are having to make cuts to their budgets and raise property taxes, why isn’t anybody looking at this?” said McMillan, whose 14th floor apartment on Quebec Street overlooks the park site. The city’s interest in Concord’s proposal to reconfigure the park will only lead to more delays in the developer’s promise to build it, they believe, noting the park board rejected the reconfiguration. “Concord Pacific has promised a park as part of its development and we believe council should hold the developer to that promise,” said Jeffries, who lives in a townhouse near Tinseltown. “We’ve been waiting 20 years for this park and Concord may force us to wait another 20 years while they reap ongoing profits from rentals to the Cirque du Soleil and others interested in taking advantage of this wonderful waterfront setting.”
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o to the question: Why, for several years, has the park site been assessed at a value far less than the average home in the city? “It’s complicated,” answered Deborah Francis, the assessment office’s deputy assessor for Vancouver. But the specific details that complicate the answer is information only shared between the assessment office and Concord, said Francis, citing privacy rules.
“I can say we have done a considerable amount of due diligence on the subject property you are referring to and we believe that the market value of that property is correct.” Generally, Francis said, value is set after reviewing information such as planning documents, land prices, zoning regulations and any restrictions on the property. The assessment office must be able to justify the value in court, she added. “So we don’t just set the value willy-nilly.” Concord’s park site has some of the most contaminated soil in the city. Creosote and various chemicals and oils were left in the ground when the property was home to industry. Francis would only say the soil issue is a “red herring” when asked about it being a factor in setting the $400,000 value for nine acres. But she noted council’s approval in October 2009 of the Northeast False Creek Higher Level Review was examined in determining this year’s assessment. “That Higher Level Review would definitely impact some of the valuation of the surrounding properties, but may or may not have reflected the park land,” said Francis, when asked why the property’s value jumped from $192,000 to $400,000. Effectively, council’s approval of the Higher Level Review opened the door for mixed-use development on Concord’s two properties adjacent to the park site. Continued on page 6
Boundaries of Concord Pacific land in Northeast False Creek The Concord property designated for a nine-acre park was assessed at $400,000 photo illustration this year. Last year, it was assessed at $192,000.
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