Simpson Covenant

[DuaneT]

As for the Simpson Covenant, I have been doing a lot of reading about it and have discovered that the Simpson family is only telling half the story. The Simpson family makes the comment that their father sold the property for considerably less then market value to the city. Well that would be correct except for one major point.

If the property had remained commercial in standing then yes, the amount would have been considerably less. But as soon as you place a restrictive covenant on the property and remove the commercial viability, you reduce the market value of the property. This is why the city council of the day stated that the amount paid for the property was a reasonable amount when convincing the population to vote on the bylaw which gave permission to purchase the property. (Printed in the Daily Courier on April 26, 1945)

The agreement also states (Printed in the Daily Courier on May 31st, 1945) that the property cannot be sold for commercial purposes but if the city does not use the property for civic purposes then it to be sold back to Mr. Simpson for the same price sold to the city. At that time the property would return to its commercial status and be worth the original market value.

Now 50 plus years later, I can see why the Simpson family did not want to exchange the parking lot for a larger piece of green space right along a newly created park. If they did, the area they would receive would be an area of no commercial value to them, whereas keeping the parking lot area would keep a large commercial area available to them now worth millions.

On March 8th, 2005 in a letter to the Kelowna Daily Courier Mrs Simpson stated that “the Simpson family had nothing to gain in this dispute” but in theory if the City of Kelowna wanted to sell this property it would have to be sold back to the Simpson family, the covenant will cease to exist and the Simpson family could make millions by selling that area of lake front property. And people are pointing out that the City of Kelowna is only into development for the money? Maybe they should rethink that!

[DuaneT]

The Simpson Family wrote in with the following reply:

Simpson Family Responds

To the editor:
I am reluctant to respond to the above-noted "letter" but feel that the gross misrepresentation of information as presented by the movekelownaforward founder and his challenge to the integrity and motivation of the Simpson family relevant to the Simpson Covenant demands a response.

There is no document saying that if the City wants to sell covenanted lands they must revert back to the Simpson familly. This is pure fabrication.

Letters to other editors from City Hall staff seem to feel the argument centers around the use of the term "fair market value" and ignore the many references to the "less than market value" the city paid for the 11.52 acres.

In fact, the argument should center around the legal reality that there are Restrictive Covenants and Bylaws attached to these properties that prohibit the City from selling them or using them for commercial purposes.

The Simpson family maintains that these lands are held in trust for the "use and enjoyment" of all the citizens of this community and our actions are solely to ensure they remain so. If there is any benefit to us it is because some of us continue to live in this beautiful community and we believe these lands must remain accessible and available to all of us.

-Sharron Simpson

[DuaneT]

Well i guess this is her attempt to redirect the actual truth. I have responded to her comments that "There is no document saying that if the City wants to sell covenanted lands they must revert back to the Simpson familly. This is pure fabrication". This letter was sent to castanet Tuesday afternoon and said the following:

I do not understand how Ms. Simpson feels it is a gross misrepresentation of information or how I fabricated this information, but I can see why she felt she was reluctant with all this information that is available to the community.

Ms. Simpson states there is no document stating the covenanted lands must revert back to the Simpson family. Well the Daily Courier on May 31st, 1945 printed this; “In this letter to Council Mr. Simpson stated that any of the whole area of the Kelowna Sawmill Property, if not used by the city for civic purposes, should be sold back to him for the same price paid by the city and not sold by the city for commercial purposes”. So either Ms Simpson is misrepresenting the facts to make her look good within the community or the reporter at the time did.

As for city hall staff, I can not speak for them but the Daily Courier on April 26th, 1945 stated “The price is said to a reasonable one. It was arrived at through a consultation between a special committee of the City Council and officials of S.M. Simpson Company. The price is considerably lower then the value placed on the property by the Simpson Company… on the understanding that the property will be used for civic purposes and not for commercial purposes. Real estate agents agree that the property, centrally located as it is would command a much higher figure if turned to commercial uses”. I guess that would mean “less then market value” would not apply here since the area no longer had any commercial uses. The value of the property became less valued as a civic land.

Ms. Simpson also makes the comment that these lands are held in trust for the “use and enjoyment” of all the citizens of this community. Funny how the area she is referring too is a paved parking lot. What benefits does that have to the citizens of Kelowna for their “use and enjoyment”? I too believe in the beauty of this community and if that land was an actual park, I would be right there fighting for it as well. But in reality, it is not and we have a chance to not only improve that area but increase its size for all future generations by agreeing to a land exchange and not stopping the Lawson Landing development.

Ms. Simpson doesn’t have to believe what I am saying, but anyone can go and get these same newspaper articles from this time period and read what was happening as it was a very important issue that got a lot of press coverage.

Sincerely,
Duane Tresnich
Movekelownaforward.com

I guess we will see of castanet prints it. At least i know i can back up that claim with actual articles from the Daily Courier.

[DuaneT]

In case you did not hear, Today at the yacht club is a press conference to announce the results of a City-wide resolution on the Simpson Covenant.

John will be attending this conference this morning and will be giving us all the details. At this time I am hoping that is will be favourable towards the Lawson Landing project and we can get underway in building for the future.

[Administrator]

As Duane has mentioned I attended the press conference held at the yacht club this morning. The purpose of the press conference was to announce the formation of a new coalition called “Residents Associations Coalition of Kelowna”. This group effectively unifies all nine ( although only 8 were listed in the release ) current Residents Associations which currently include:

- North End Residents Association,
- Kelowna South Central Association of Neighbourhoods,
- Okanagan Mission Residents Association,
- Glenmore Valley Community Association,
- Clifton Highlands Community Association,
- Quail Ridge Resident Association,
- McKinley Landing Residents Association and
- Rutland Residents Association

Their first order of business was to issue the following statement: “The Residents Association of The City of Kelowna urge The Mayor and Councilors and the City of Kelowna to respect the principal of the Simpson Covenant.”<br>
They also issued the following resolutions:

Resolution 1: “On behalf of the City’s Residents Association and as citizens of Kelowna we believe that the terms and conditions of the original Simpson Covenant and the lands identified as such – namely the property bounded by Ellis Street and the Lakeshore, Queensway – including the parking lot on the waterfront – to Doyle Avenue – must be respected, honoured and adhered to. And further the lands covered by Bylaw 1449 – in the area of Kerry Park must also be retained as per stipulations of the bylaw – which in fact mirror the original convenant.”<br>
Resolution 2: “On behalf of the City’s Residents Association and as citizens of Kelowna we support the principle of increasing building heights and density for the downtown in a stepped back manner with set back from the lake as laid out in the official Downtown Plan on page 75 to 77 www.city.kelowna.bc.ca/citypage/scripts/%2e%2e%5cdocs%5cpdfs%5cDepartments%5cdevelopment%20services%5cgeneral%20documents%5cdowntown%20plan.pdf approved by Kelowna City Council in 2000.”<br>
Further comment will be forthcoming by MoveKelownaForward.com

[Matt Phillips]

castanet has just posted an article about this

they mentioned the formation of the RACK (Residents Associations Coalition of Kelowna)

although it would be more accurate as "Residents Against the City of Kelowna"

anyways, i pulled this out of the article on Castanet...

"Ron Cannan was the only city councilor who bothered to attend Tuesday's announcement. When asked what he thought of the Lawson Landing project and the Simpson covenant dispute, he responded: "What project? "


i can't believe this

[Administrator]

Hi Matt!

Actually, Ron did this on purpose - it was basically "no comment" as any city official would say at this point. It is pretty obvious from everyone being SO quite that there are alot of behind the scenes negotiations. Though the wait is driving me crazy LOL!

And thanks for posting on Zeger's forum - that was awesome! And great on the RACK comment LOL!

[Matt Phillips]

thanx.

yea, i made a few posts on that other forum.

first about the assumed problem that there would be more crime in the downtown area.

then about kelowna looking like a bomb was dropped on it.

and then correcting Mr Zeger about where kokanee spawn