Just as the sale was about to close, the Ontario government has unexpectedly thrown a wrench in the Municipality of Port Hope’s plan to purchase 1,334 acres of lands from Ontario Power Generation (OPG) in the Wesleyville area in Port Hope.
The lands include around 700 acres of environmentally important land, 600 acres that could potentially be developed, 260 acres of developed industrial land, and over 18 acres located along four kilometres of protected Lake Ontario shoreline.
The $18.6-million sale, which was approved by Port Hope council on February 15, was set to close on Thursday (March 31) when the municipality received a notification from OPG that the province had stopped the sale.
According to a media release from the municipality on Friday (April 1), a letter from the province states that the lands “merit assessment” under the government’s proposed “Centre of Realty Excellence” (CORE), first announced in the 2021 fall economic statement as a way to establish centralized oversight of underused or surplus government property.
As OPG is a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario, its surplus lands would fall under CORE’s purview.
The decision to halt the sale coincides with the province’s introduction of the proposed More Housing for Everyone Act on Wednesday, intended to increase the supply of housing in Ontario. The government’s plan for the proposed legislation states that CORE “would focus on how we can better use approximately 10,000 acres of underused government-owned real estate to meet our most pressing needs, such as new long-term care beds and community housing.”
The province’s last-minute decision to halt the sale of the OPG lands has raised a “lot of questions,” according to the media release for the municipality.
“To our knowledge, this proposed (CORE) program does not yet have a governance model, framework, or timeline for implementation,” reads the media release. “We have a binding, unconditional purchase and sale agreement with OPG in place, approved by OPG Board of Directors and Port Hope Council. For the past two years, we followed proper process and due diligence to reach the binding agreement. We negotiated a fair deal in good faith.”
The municipality was considering housing as a possible option for the 600 acres of purchased land that could potentially be developed, but had no immediate plans or recommendations. It was going to begin an extensive public consultation process in 2023.
The municipality says it has reached out to the province about the decision to halt the sale and has “extended an invitation to the province to work with them through the CORE process.”
“I was very surprised by the abrupt change of plans for this land purchase, since the agreement was approved by both parties,” says Port Hope mayor Bob Sanderson. “We followed a proper process, signed a binding agreement, and shared the good news story with our community. We are disappointed with this outcome.”
