Public presses for more info on Ranta Marina sale
Three delegations appear at town council
Posted By Ron Giofu/The Amherstburg Echo
Posted 1 month ago
AMHERSTBURG — Ranta Marina was the hot topic again at town council Monday night and opponents to its sale have been successful in their quest to get more information.
Mary Jane Santos questioned why some council members do not consider the marina a “core service.” She compared the marina to such amenities as the splash pad, Lions Pool, arena, kayak launch, the Rotary accessible playground among others.
“Do any of these make money? Are any of these for sale?” she asked. “Are dockaminiums a core service?”
Town council accepted an offer to purchase the marina at their Oct. 13 meeting from a development group hoping to build a condominium/dockaminium.
Santos asked a series of questions including how the town would benefit from the sale as the $584,000 they will get is roughly half the deficit, how the marina was determined to be surplus, would the town spend more money on a public boat launch elsewhere and who appraised the marina.
“If Ranta Marina was developed with almost $3 million in federal and provincial grants, why are you selling it for the bargain basement price of $584,000?” she asked.
Santos also questioned the sale of the marina when the town is spending money on a new recreation complex.
Jennifer Minovski asked council to make public all pertinent information relating to division of the park and marina, any minutes of meetings where the marina was declared surplus and the means which the meetings were advertised. Council agreed to release information on the marina including back as far as 1984.
“I believe it is wrong to sell our only public marina especially in the current economic climate where the marina’s true value cannot be received,” said Minovski.
Councillor John Sutton said a meeting roughly one year ago when the marina was first listed for sale was when the marina was declared surplus.
Lisa Scott asked council to make public the terms and conditions of the sale as well as how they spent money willed to then by Lisa Ranta Chappus with $166,666.67 of the willed $250,000 having been already paid. Scott asked for motions on those two matters “out of admiration and respect” for Chappus and Walter Ranta, who donated money to provide local residents access to the water.
“This marina was not intended to be sold. It certainly was not intended to be sold at less than half of the appraised value,” said Scott.
The town states there is roughly $95,000 remaining with that earmarked for the park. CAO Pam Malott said, “the amount was willed to the marina parkland and that is where the money has been spent.”
