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Sandown owner quashes Walmart rumours

A report fuelling rumours that a Walmart is planned for the Sandown commercial site is not true, says the family that owns the property.
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Sandown Raceway stables, grandstand and other buildings are due for demolition soon. The owner of the property says rumours of a Walmart coming to the site are unfounded

A report fuelling rumours that a Walmart is planned for the Sandown commercial site is not true, says the family that owns the property.

Real estate consulting firm Urbanics prepared the report at the request of Sidney council to examine the impact of another venture, the proposed Gateway Shopping Centre on airport lands. The Urbanics report said the 12-acre Sandown commercial site is “proposed to be anchored by a grocery store and a small-format Wal-Mart.”

But Bill Randall, whose family owns the Sandown site in North Saanich, said that is false — and misinformation is being spread about the Sandown project with the goal of advancing another project, presumed to be Gateway.

“At no point were we contacted by Urbanics, nor was the information substantiated by any credible source,” Randall said in an email to the Times Colonist.

“It is unfortunate that our project is being targeted with such misinformation, particularly with the intention of advancing another development.”

The Urbanics study was paid for by Omicron, which wants to build Gateway Shopping Centre on 10 acres of Victoria International Airport land in Sidney.

In an email, Urbanics associate Tim Schmitt said: “The information in question concerns what we believed to be the anchor tenant of the proposed centre. Either way, this information was given to us by our client, Omicron.”  

Omicron vice-president Peter Loughlin did not respond to several requests for comment from the Times Colonist.

Walmart marketing manager Felicia Fefer said Monday in an email: “We do not have any plans to build a new store in North Saanich at this time.”

The Urbanics study was meant to evaluate the impact the Gateway project would have on downtown businesses in Sidney. Critics fear that a shopping centre on the west side of the Pat Bay Highway would take business away from the established core.

“It is well known that approval has been granted for a comparable shopping centre located just outside of the town’s municipal limits in North Saanich,” the study says. “Not building the Gateway centre would serve to provide additional incentives for the competing centre in North Saanich to be built. The net result of this scenario would see the same or greater transfer in retail sales away from Sidney retailers, while forcing the town to forego the municipal advantages and potential benefits of an increased retail draw.”

North Saanich Mayor Alice Finall said she was surprised to see the Sandown project mentioned in the Urbanics report.

“We still have no real certainty as to what would be put on the commercial section of the Sandown property, and there may not be any conflict at all. The conflict is between the Gateway project and the businesses in Sidney.”

Platform Properties, which speaks on behalf of the Sandown project, has said since March that it is not yet ready to announce tenants or planned uses. The total property is 95 acres, all in the agricultural land reserve. North Saanich has agreed to have 12 acres removed from the reserve and zone it for commercial use. In exchange, the remaining 83 acres will be donated to the municipality, which will add 12 adjacent acres that it owns to the parcel so that there’s no net loss to the agricultural land reserve.

The land swap has not yet occurred.

A 2012 appraisal estimated Sandown could provide $3.9 million to $4.7 million in revenue to North Saanich over the first 10 years.

On Monday night, Sidney council considered whether to create a bylaw that would lay the groundwork for debating a rezoning for the Gateway 10 acres to commercial use from single and two-family residential. “It is neither in favour or opposed to the rezoning,” said Mayor Steve Price.

The Urbanics study concluded the Gateway centre would have a net economic benefit for Sidney, despite protests from downtown businesses.

“The proposed Gateway development does compete with existing retailers to some degree and will inevitably result in some transfer of sales dollars in some retail categories,” it says. However, “the project differs from the majority of existing Sidney retailers in a number of ways.”

The study says the development would generate much of its sales from shoppers currently going to similar shopping centres outside Sidney.

kdedyna@timescolonist.com