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Dairy deal makes 'no sense'
Fibreglass North threatens court action over Tuaro deal by Richard Gleeson
NNSL (July 11/97) - The city's main reason for agreeing to a third deal with Tuaro dairy -- that it makes more economic sense than foreclosing -- makes no sense at all to a businesswoman who wants to buy the property. "They thought we had gone away like a bad dream," said Sandra Elliott, co-owner of Fibreglass North. "Well, we haven't." Elliott said she will be contacting a lawyer to challenge the agreement the city has made with Tuaro. Fibreglass North, which produces holding tanks and employs 18 people, has told the city several times since 1992 that it wants to buy the property. Each time, said Elliott, the company has been told the property was not for sale, that the dairy was about to make a go of it. Elliott said she was told that again last week, when she learned of the plan to sell the property to the dairy. "We offered them ($250,000) and (the mayor) said we can't accept it, it's a closed deal," said Elliott of the meeting. "There are manufacturing people who need more property, they have the money to buy more property, they pay taxes," said Elliott. "What are we, from another planet? Or what the frig is going on?" The agreement was made public at a hastily called Friday meeting two weeks ago, when council gave first reading to a bylaw authorizing the sale of six acres to the dairy for $250,000. The deal, signed the same day the meeting was held, is conditional on final approval of the bylaw, which is likely to take place Monday at council's 7 p.m. regular meeting. Elliott met with Mayor Dave Lovell Tuesday to discuss the matter. A staff report presented when the deal was discussed plays up the benefits of the agreement but makes no mention of the drawbacks. The deal releases Tuaro from its obligations under a lease agreement it signed in 1995, undercuts the purchase price listed in the agreement by more than $200,000, forgives the dairy almost $200,000 in lease payments owed under a previous agreement Tuaro failed to honor, and reduces property taxes. Elliott said the six acres Tuaro is buying are a steal next to the prices the city is asking for other commercial property. Fibreglass North recently paid $160,000 for a two-acre Kam Lake industrial park lot it needed for expansion, said Elliott. "Why wouldn't I want to buy six acres, with buildings, for $250,000?," she asked. Lovell is vacationing out of town and unavailable for comment. |