North Huron Council has decided they are going to buy the St. Paul’s Trinity Church Manse, located at 19 John Street East. The house has been partially demolished/gutted. The property is at least 5 feet higher than John Street, and would need to be levelled in order to create a parking lot. A retaining wall would be required to maximize lot size, and to stabilize the steep bank between the new parking lot and the Church property. Council has agreed to pay $10,000 for the property.
I have spoken to several property managers and contractors, and they all believe the actual cost of demolishing the house, dump fees, levelling the lot, paving, and the retaining wall, will bring up the cost of the property to at least $40,000, which will be paid by the North Huron Taxpayers.
WFP hopes that council looked out for the best interests of St. Paul’s Church. It is Council’s duty to make sure the sellers were treated fairly, and the Church got fair market value. Council should not use their power (granted by the taxpayers) to bully a vulnerable organization/citizen into selling their assets below market value. It would be a sin of unmeasurable proportion if Council paid a penny less than market value. Council is there to Represent all of us, even St. Paul’s Church.
A confidential inside source has told WFP that when council and staff were originally discussing the sale of the Wingham Trailer Park, they were hoping to get $40,000 for the entire park. This information was leaked to WFP shortly after we broke the trailer park story. This person stepped forward as they were outraged that Council was willing to accept such a low sum. This person risked their job by stepping forward, and we will continue to protect their anonymity at all costs.
Several WFP supporters were VERY eager to buy the trailer park, until that number was leaked. They were ready to pay cash for the trailer park, as the North Huron budget clearly states it is profitable. This leak was viewed as Inside Information and the investors decided it would be highly inappropriate to pursue acquiring the trailer park.
WFP was not going to bring this information forward, as it seemed that the deluge of trailer park supporters calling the Mayor would convince them not to sell our profitable park. Then there was record attendance at meetings (Strategic Planning, COW & Council) by supporters for the park. All these voices have fallen on deaf ears. It now seems appropriate to make this public, as their value of the trailer park is equal to that of a small parking lot. We hope people will start to realize how absurd some of council’s decisions are, and start attending meetings and demanding they are allowed input. Our town will not get fixed until more citizens rise up and demand change and offer solutions.
It is apparent that council still plans on selling the park. They have not rescinded the two motions that state they are selling the park and the method of divesting.
Our town is being managed by people that think trading the profitable Wingham Trailer Park for a non revenue producing parking lot, is a good idea. They said “we are not in the real estate businessâ€, yet they are buying and selling properties like monopoly. If a private investor made similar decisions, they would be bankrupt in short order.
I hope our new parking lot will attract as many tourists to our town as the trailer park use to.