February 01, 2022

Pending sale of Talisman lands is met with community objection

A press release issued by the Friends of the Beaver Valley and Protect Talisman on Feb 1, states:

The Municipality of Grey Highlands’ Council is voting to pass By-law 22.010 Wednesday, February 2, 2022 - 1:00 PM confirming the conditional sale of the upper and lower portions of the Talisman lands. The golf course at Talisman (75 acres) is being sold for $1 million and the upper rural land (59 acres) is being sold for $1.5 million.

The offer is less than the offer made by the Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy (EBC) for the same lands. EBC’s offer of $2,755 million and proposal to collaborate on future sustainable development and nature reserve was ignored by the Municipality.

Agenda Item 9.10 refers to the 2 page staff report (CLS.22.04) provided to Council as information. Item 10.6 is a copy of the By-law, By-law 2022-010, Draft By-law No. 2022-010 - Sale of Upper and Lower Talisman (420839000412500, 420839000410902) - Pdf plus full details of the OFFER TO PURCHASE from Westway Capital Inc. in Trust.

The FRIENDS OF THE BEAVER VALLEY (FOBV), and PROTECT TALISMAN (PT) strongly oppose the sale of the upper and lower Talisman Lands to Westway Capital Inc. in Trust.

Among their objections are:

• These lands are part of the Niagara Escarpment and should be protected.
• Community residents have strongly expressed their desire not to see new development on these public lands.
• There is nothing in the staff report to indicate why this sale is being recommended to Council.
• There has not been an appraisal done by the Municipality to determine an objective evaluation of the market value of the entire property?
• Why were other options not considered including the Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy offer of $2.775M?

The Feb 2nd council meeting agenda is posted here. The meeting starts at 1pm.

Anyone who wishes to comment in the Open Forum on items included in the agenda may register to speak here. You have 3 minutes to voice your comments.

View live feed of the meeting or meeting recording.

 

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