$20-M approval for Portage Place redevelopment rushed, lacked consultation: councillors

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This article was published 23/07/2020 (1519 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Multiple city councillors are complaining of a rushed process that led council to narrowly approve a $20-million incentive for the $400-million redevelopment of the Portage Place Mall.

Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) said she lacked the time to seek details on how the city can afford the deal and why its contribution quadrupled from the $5 million supported by the executive policy committee.

Lukes said she didn’t receive a copy of the motion until 9:30 a.m. Thursday, the day council cast a final nine-to-seven vote in favour of it. She said that lack of notice disrespects the taxpayers she represents.

“My concern, mostly, was if I’m voting on $20 million of taxpayer money, committing the city to a long-term (working) relationship, I need to know (all the details) because my residents are going to want to know,” said Lukes.

On Wednesday, Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) publicly shared a motion that increased the city’s offer to $11.3 million. Lukes said no explanation was provided for that increase or Gilroy’s final Thursday morning motion to offer $20 million.

Lukes said she supports the project, which would see Starlight Investments create 500 housing units, almost 500,000 square feet of office and retail space and a 10,000-square-foot community space.

But she called the city’s handling of the vote “horrible,” with Starlight officials stating even they hadn’t seen the latest city offer by the time they spoke to council on Thursday.

Coun. Devi Sharma (Old Kildonan) said that lack of communication further hindered the quality of information available to councillors.

“It was concerning to me that Starlight … had no knowledge of the revised package increasing the level of funding prior to their opportunity to present to council as a whole. How could they possibly speak to the project fully, in the context of city funding, when they were not in the know of what the city was prepared to offer?” asked Sharma, in an emailed statement.

But Gilroy said her final motion was completed only shortly before it was shared with councillors.

Starlight has said it won’t proceed with the project unless the city, province and feds each commit $20 million by Aug. 27, which Gilroy said created a need to act quickly.

“We do sometimes have to make tough decisions in this amount of time,” she said.

The offer includes an $11.3-million tax-increment financing deal, plus $8.7 million worth of additional targeted incentives.

Gilroy said she voted against holding a special August council meeting to handle the vote because she wanted to ensure all councillors were available to consider it, which is less likely during council’s summer prorogue.

Starlight has said it is encouraged by the final offer but is still determining if the project is viable.

The province has committed an education tax rebate worth up to $28.7 million for the project, while the federal government is still reviewing its funding request.

Coun. Shawn Nason (Transcona), who requested the special August meeting, said a one-month delay would have given councillors more time to scrutinize the deal.

“More dialogue was definitely needed before that final decision,” said Nason.

Some Winnipeggers also reached out to the Free Press to express concern that such a sizable taxpayer-funded investment was approved so quickly.

Tim Proskurnik said the city could make substantial investments to help disadvantaged Winnipeggers with that amount of funding.

Proskurnik said he also shares the concern that the deal lacks detail.

“I would like all of the councillors to be made aware of exactly what went on and I think they have a right to (know.) They are employees of us, so we should be able to have them get all the information that they need,” he said.

Mayor Brian Bowman wasn’t available for an interview on Friday.

In an email, spokesman Jeremy Davis said the mayor believes councillors did have enough information to vote.

“The mayor agrees that the last-minute nature of the report from the public service was not ideal … (but felt) there was enough information for council to proceed,” Davis wrote.

Joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga

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