The Town of The Blue Mountains is placing a moratorium on the sale of town-owned land.
At its meeting on July 11, council approved a staff report that puts a moratorium on the sale of town-owned properties until staff complete revisions to the town’s sale and disposition of land policy.
CAO Shawn Everitt said the town is receiving inquiries and requests from local residents to purchase unused town land to add to their own properties. The requests are coming quite frequently and staff have been referring them to council for further direction.
“We are getting these requests from residents quite often. It would be helpful for us to take a bit of a breather,” said Everitt.
Everitt provided council with a list of properties that are currently under review. Those requests would continue through the review process. He said requests that come in beyond that list will now be subject to the moratorium until the new disposition policy is approved and implemented.
The moratorium contains an exemption for staff to consider the disposition of town-owned lands through the formal Planning Act process. It is common practice for a municipality to exchange or sell land to developers planning projects.
Members of council were supportive of the changes.
“This would be a key report for the next council,” said coun. Andrea Matrosovs. “This is a very helpful piece of information.”
Council approved the report unanimously in a 6-0 vote (Coun. Rob Sampson was absent).
