On October 10 Chestermere City Council announced that they are exploring the possibility selling the city hall property.
The property is on 1.94 acres of waterfront property beside Chestermere Lake, and it is believed by the city that selling, renting, or leasing the property could increase non-residential taxes and lighten the burden on Chestermere residents.
“This is councils’ direction to administration to see if there is interest in this building. We are a growing community, and we are thinking about how we can grow with purpose,” said Mayor Marshall Chalmers.
“Currently, we’re not collecting any tax revenue on it. We are exploring all ways to lessen the burden of the tax side. We are serious about looking at every opportunity to increase the non-residential tax rate,” he said.
. “Lakefront commercial properties are limited and a good source of tax revenue, so we are testing the waters to see what comes of it,” he added.
Since Chestermere has a high residential property tax rate versus non-residential, a goal of the city council is to decrease the burden on Chestermere residents’ shoulders.
“We see this building as sitting on prime property. We’re exploring whether there’s any interest, we haven’t put it up for sale, we’re putting it out to see what interest there is,” Chalmers said.
Exploring the possibility of selling the property is a simple process to determine whether there is any interest, and if there is interest, the city will then take the next steps and move forward.
“City Hall sits on a highly desirable piece of lakefront property, and we gain no tax revenue with our civic office being there. So, we are looking at all of our options to ensure residents get the most bang for their buck,” Chalmers said.
If suitable interest is found, more work will be required to determine the next steps, such as an agreement for sale or lease, finding a new city hall, and moving the city services.
“We see this as a very nice corporate building, great views, it could be used for a multitude of things from a commercial space use,” Chalmers said.
The city is also exploring options to co-locate a civic centre and library with a multipurpose recreation complex, which will be located in the new development in the west end of Chestermere.
“The priority remains to maximize the commercial opportunity on the building and land and to generate tax revenue. This will only make sense if the cost of a new co-located city hall does not exceed any purchase price,” Chalmers said.
The request of interest is in development by the city administration and will be issued soon.
For more information, please visit the City of Chestermere website at https://www.chestermere.ca/civicalerts.aspx?AID=903.
