The Century Group stands to reap an enormous windfall if the municipality approves a mixed-use residential development on the controversial Southlands property.
A consultant's report for the Corporation of Delta recently made public looked at the land valuation of the Tsawwassen site if it was left entirely with its current agricultural designation as well as if the Century Group's development application was allowed. Century's proposal would see 80 per cent of the 215-hectare (537-acre) site given to Delta while the remaining 20 per cent would be developed with housing and mixed-use commercial.
According to the appraisal by Burgess Cawley Sullivan & Associations, the land is valued at $32,220,000 if left entirely agricultural, but would be worth $135,365,000 if the application were approved.
The report's authors note the appraisal was prepared exclusively for Corporation of Delta for negotiation purposes, so it remains to be seen if Delta could seek an even better deal from the applicant should a development of some kind be allowed.
Century Group president Sean Hodgins strongly refutes the appraisal figures, noting Delta's appraisal first values the Southlands, which is not in the Agricultural Land Reserve, at $60,000 an acre, when, in fact, there are many recent sales of agricultural land, including the Garden City Lands in Richmond, for over $400,000 per acre.
The Southlands is worth closer to at least $100,00 per acre, which would set the baseline at over $53 million, Hodgins told the Optimist Monday.
He also said the appraiser never sought his input to clarify the kind of housing proposed, saying the appraisal misrepresents entirely the type of development that would occur.
Earlier this year, Century Group submitted a rezoning application for the first phase of what would be much larger development planned for the property.
The first phase would see 14 hectares (35 acres) developed with 450 residential units in various forms and densities, including cottage-style and other smaller single-family houses, but primarily condos.
The next phase would see mostly single-family houses.
Once fully developed, the Southlands would have 950 housing units.
The development also involves the transfer of 80 per cent of the property to Delta.
