The City of Moose Jaw and the provincial government have been clashing for several years about who is responsible for repairing a water line at Valley View Centre, with each party pointing at the other.
The disagreement is — and was — part of a larger issue about the sale of the 80-hectare (200-acre) property.
City hall provided the Moose Jaw Express with documents showing the discussions city administration had with the Ministry of SaskBuilds and Procurement — formerly the Ministry of Central Services — about it and the property after the Express submitted a freedom of information (FOI) request.
The following article summarizes the FOI documents. Part 1 can be found here.
Valley View closes
City hall contacted the province sometime in 2018 or 2019 about the latter’s plan to dispose of the Valley View Centre (VVC) lands, city manager Jim Puffalt wrote in a letter on May 22, 2019 to Central Services.
City administration met on May 9, 2019 with VVC representatives about the venue’s closure and expressed concerns about the province’s expectation that the municipality would pay to provide water to the Ministry of Highways’ equipment repair depot.
Puffalt pointed out that the Wakamow Valley Authority Act says a process is required to dispose of land owned within the valley, but in the May 9 meeting, the province indicated it would go straight to a Request for Proposal (RFP) process.
The city manager also noted that the Act said that “any participating party must give all other participating parties the opportunity to acquire land before attempting to dispose of it.”
During the same meeting, city administration expressed concern about access from Highway 2 to the two private properties — the Thorns and Averys — within city limits. Puffalt noted that VVC sat on the original road allowances of Argyle Road and Green Avenue, which meant there were no registered easements.
“The Ministry’s goal to walk away from the property and expect the City of Moose Jaw to provide access and water service to the Ministry of Highways’ maintenance facility is not acceptable,” he added.
Disposing of the property
In a letter to Puffalt dated Aug. 13, 2019, Nancy Cherney, then assistant deputy minister of Central Services, quoted sections 51(1) and (2) of the Act to explain the province’s decision to sell the property. She noted that the complex would become surplus as of Dec. 31, 2019 and the government would dispose of it in 2020.
If Moose Jaw were interested in purchasing some or all the property, the province would negotiate a reasonable sale price based on fair market value, she said.
Cherney encouraged Puffalt to indicate whether the municipality was interested in acquiring some or all the property by Sept. 15, 2019, otherwise, the ministry would proceed with the RFP in early 2020.
No interest
In response, Puffalt sent a letter on Sept. 12, 2019 saying the city was “not interested in acquiring these lands at this time.”
However, since the property was within municipal limits, city hall expected the current or future landowners to provide access to the existing private homes and Tatawaw Park via Argyle Road and Green Avenue. Moreover, the current or future landowners were expected to maintain the existing water and sewer infrastructure.
Disappointed
Puffalt sent Cherney another letter on Nov. 25, 2019 saying the municipality was disappointed that none of the comments it made were included as information in the RFP.
“This is most unusual for this lack of clarity in a land sale and the city will not accept any responsibility for any issues with a proposed bidder from this lack of full disclosure,” he stated.
Water line breaks
Elaine Anderson, legal counsel for city council, sent Cherney a letter on Feb. 13, 2020 discussing the rupture of the water line feeding the former VVC site and how the latter spoke with former engineering director Josh Mickleborough days earlier about it.
Mickleborough told Anderson that he believed the ministry refused to pay for repairs and intended to discontinue area water service.
Anderson informed Cherney that the province signed an agreement with the city in May 1952 and “assumed responsibility to construct and ‘keep’” a sewer and water line from the Saskatchewan Training School to the municipality’s system at Main and Grandview streets.
“The Ministry of Central Services appears to have abandoned the sewer and water lines contrary to the agreement,” said Anderson.
Concerns with province’s position
While the ministry might attribute responsibility for the water line to the city based on the agreement, city hall had concerns with that position, she continued.
First, the agreement’s “vague wording” made it difficult to determine if the break’s location fell within the city’s obligation to maintain it “if such obligation indeed exists.” However, maintenance of the water line was not the main issue.
“In this situation, evidence suggests the water line broke due to the operator’s failure to properly maintain a flow of water to the reservoir during harsh winter conditions,” said Anderson. “Accordingly, the city is not liable for any cost to repair the water line damage.”
Mickleborough advised Anderson that while the municipality was not obligated to make repairs, he offered to provide support and repairs on a cost-recovery basis — but the ministry declined.
Subdividing VVC property
Puffalt emailed Cherney on March 18, 2020 about issues with subdividing the VVC property, while she responded in a letter on March 27, 2020.
Puffalt suggested that if approval is given to subdivide the property, then the ministry should contribute financially to repair or replace the Seventh Avenue Southwest bridge — shuttered at that time — since a VVC building blocked the only legal access.
“The Ministry of Central Services is not prepared to repair or replace this city-owned asset. (However), we are interested in identifying other alternatives for access to the two parcels in question,” Cherney replied.
The suggestion that caveats be attached to the VVC property titles would bind a new purchaser to provide access through the existing — unregistered but physical — roadways “was impractical and unnecessarily restrictive” for Carpere Canada, which might be unable to meet that requirement, she added.
Purchase and demolish
Puffalt indicated that city hall would take ownership of the VVC lift station if the province completed upgrades for $132,500 and then later paid $75,000 to demolish and decommission that equipment since city hall did not require it in the future.
Cherney replied that the ministry appreciated the offer but didn’t see a need to transfer the structure since city hall intended to demolish the building. Instead, it would demolish the lift station in 2020 and rehabilitate the site before giving the city the property.
Puffalt also suggested that the city would take ownership of the reservoir and water lines and provide services to the depot if the province repaired the water line and upgraded the reservoir.
Cherney replied that the ministry decommissioned the reservoir and closed it after the disruption occurred in January 2020. Meanwhile, the reservoir was part of the VVC sale and would become Carpere’s property.
“With regard to the water lines, as indicated previously, we believe the water line is the responsibility of the City of Moose Jaw, as per the 1952 agreement between us,” she added. “As such, Central Services will not be repairing or removing that water line.’
That is the final correspondence in the FOI documents.
Update
In recent emails to the Express, SaskBuilds and city hall indicated that neither had new information about this issue and that there were no changes to the situation.
