' now

. Sites

Page 26, January 24, 1978 - North Shore News

Things got worse, too.
B.C.’s pioneer land-owners
didn’t take just the most
convenient land, ‘they took
the best quality land as well.
Take a look at a land
ownership map of B.C., and

you'll find that just. about any...

land that is possible to get to,
reasonably flat, and with a
source of fresh water, went
years ago. :

Of course, access, slope,
and water supply problems
can usually be resolved with

proper servicing, but this _

isn’t cheap on difficult sites.
In the past, the Crown has.
tried to ignore this aspect of
the problem by putting lots
on the market with almost
mo services. However, the
catch-up servicing problems
this caused later haye almost
stopped the practice. Also,
that regulations
requiring adequate servicing
of land by private developers
before it can be sold are sold
are almost universal in B.C.,
the province cannot afford
to set the bad example of
poorly planned communities
or poorly serviced lots. ;

The Crown does still .

occasionally try to dispose of
unserviced lots, claiming
they are for “recreational
homesites” only. The short .
term political gains from
giving land away can be very

tempting. But since it’s now .
recognized that

widely
summer cottages have a
habit of becoming first

retirement homes and then |

permanent homes, this
manoeuvre too is fading
away.

Basically, the expense of
servicing many of the
swamps and rockpiles that
remain close
settlements has ruled out
most such areas as desirable
for residential
development.

It’s not as if there were a

great many possible areas |

anyway. When you take
away the major proportion
of the province that is
dedicated to forest
production, the significant
percentages turned over to
parks, conservation areas,
and range land, and the
mountaintops and similar
impossible terrain, that
Crown Land bonanza _ has
virtually disappeared.

In some places, it's truc
that the luck of the draw has
left strategically placed
Crown Land to play with, but
in many there simply isn't
cnough. In order to cause a
major drop in land prices,
the province would have to
be supplying a significant
proportion of the total land
demand at a low price, and
it's hard to see how that
could be done with the real
supplics availablc.

WHY SELL CHEAP?

Apart from the amount of
land available, the price too
is a problem. To start with,
the paperwork and servicing
required to produce a 20m
(66’) wide lot isn’t likely to be
much less than $3,000. Then
what about the retum to the
people of the province for
the disposal of their assets?
Selling at less than market
value means we arc all
foregoing the possibility of
increasing provincial

‘George does ‘this, —

to existing ©

revenues and thus reducing
our taxes. The City of Prince
ich ~
explains their much-admired
land prices. 3

If the proposai is to sell
the land at less than market
value,-the nasty problem of

e land is in the wrong

‘Another pressure to drive
up the price of Crown Land
is speculation. If the land
were offered at a bargain, it
would pay to buy it for resale
later, after the market”
stabilizes again. Since the
province. would need an
impossibly large supply of

who should be allowed to get “land to keep the market

the bargains also arises. Is it
fair for something owned by.
all of us to be made available
only to a select few? If so,

- how do you select those few?

In fact, a major part of the
Crown Land Myth is the
belief that Crown Land is, or
could be, supplied free or at
a nominal cost. Random
conversations with ap-
plicants for Crown Land

below its normal price for an
extended period, a future’
rise in the price of released
land would be sure to occur
eventually. Various
government officials have
claimed that mechanisms
exist to -rule out such
speculation, but if free title
to the released land is
eventually to be transferred,
the speculator only has to

wait for that transfer to take _

suggest that this ideas is what--his profit. No mechanism to

drives many. of them to
apply. Ironically, though, .
the province uses the volume
‘of such mistaken ap-
plications as proof of a.
crying need for more land
release. If the province
made it-clear that all Crown
Land would be sold at
market value by auction,
interest in obtaining it might
diminish sharply.

‘

FEATURING

‘VA

* PULASKI

MASTERCHARGE

prevent. speculation is
compatible. with truce titled
land ownership.

So, given all these
drawbacks, it.jsn’t surprising
that the government has yet
to live up to its campaign
promise to the Crown
Land floodgates. It is a little
surprising, though, that the

Premier revived it at the

place

recent Social Credit con-

‘vention and again in a recent

announcement from  Vic-
toria. Apart from the
technical problems involved,
which provincial staff have
pointed out frequently, there
are several groups in B.C.
society would would not be
pleased if he kept that
promise.

CHEAP LAND UN
POPULAR ;

The largest group is those
who already own land. They

are a powerful bunch, and.
surely be-

they would
displeased with any
government which moved to
reduced the value of the
investments. - En-
vironmentalists too would
probably be heard from, as
opening up large tracts of

virgin land for residential

development can only
reduce the areas available
for wildlife. Local taxpayers
would react negatively to the
added costs for servicing the
newly developed land that
would be imposed on them,
while the local governments
would bewail the in-

4
4

}

terference with their

budgeting and community the
most of which - 3
assume Crown Land will -

planning,
remain undeveloped.

In a few parts of the
province, releasing some
Crown Land might help out a
little, but for most of us, it's
no panacea for the home

price “problem”. 7
The faa! Oo the
Crown Land Myth is the

certainty of many of those
who believe it that releasing
Crown Land is the only way
to make more land available.
With such an attitude
prevalent, it's very hard to

have alternative approaches
- seriously

‘considered.
However, such approaches
do exist, and an example is
the more effective use of
property taxation. ;

USE TAXES INSTEAD»

Since the best land is
already in private hands,
surely it is’ private land that
should be looked to as a
source of new homesites.
Fortunately, there is a large

amount of private land that’

would fill the bill, now either
sparsely used or not built on
at all. The problem is to
bring it to the competitive

market.

ESTATE SALE

ASSOCIATED MANUFACTURERS AGENCIES LTD.
A MAJOR WHOLESALE FURNITURE DISTRIBUTOR
TO THE DEPARTMENT AND FURNITURE STORES

FOR OVER 20 YEARS

MAYNARD’S HAVE BEEN APPOINTED |

BY THE EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE TO LIQUIDATE
THE ENTIRE eee

MILLION INVENTORY

OF NEW QUALITY FURNISHINGS

EVERYTHING TO BE SOLD AT THEIR
DEALER WHOLESALE PRICES

OFF REGULAR RETAIL PRICES
* BARGET

MAKES BY
* JAYMAR

NOTE * THIS IS 40 - 50%

* AUTHENTIC
* MOUNT ADAMS

* CHENARD

SALE STARTS THURS 9 A.M.

Continues 9 A.M. - 9 P.M. Daily

AMPLE PARKING

ACROSS THE STREET

518 BEATTY ST. VANCOUVER (3rd & 4th Fir.)

CHARGEX-VISA MAYNARD’S STOCK LIQUIDATION DIV.

1233 West Georgia St., Vancouver
Phone 685-7378

‘only ‘cost of. holding it is:

* DECORWOOD
* TOWNHOUSE

the fact that. much of the.
land is” owned by - man
individuals ‘who kn
nothing about finance:
Among these people, there:
tends to be. the attitude that
once land .is ‘paid for, th

taxes. Opportunity Costs are.
usually overlooked. £E;
pectation of a high eventual
sale price, and perception of

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

CORRECTION
Woodward's Tabloid - The:
Columbian,  -Richmond’
Review and. Shore |
. News, January 17, 1979.
Page 2 - The Sleeper.
Lounges by The House of.
Braemore ‘should have rea
double size spring filled

mattress. .

Page 18, ttem F: Enamelled
- Storm Door ~ The grill shown
in the illustration is not in
Cluded in Sale Price 109.99

We apologize to
customers