The Land Conservancy of B.C. is eager to leave creditor protection but still has more than $4 million in outstanding debt.
Negotiations are also continuing for the transfer of some properties, including the Wildwood eco-forest near Cedar. TLC is working on paying off four remaining mortgages.
A July 18 meeting is expected to discuss a new proposal with creditors, said Cathy Armstrong, executive director of the Victoria-based non-profit organization. It protects and maintains heritage properties, agricultural land and natural sites around B.C.
The Land Conservancy has been operating under a court-approved plan of arrangement to manage its debt since February 2015. Details of the latest strategy are not being released, Armstrong said.
The organization has knocked down close to half its crippling debt, initially at about $7.5 million.
It entered creditor protection in October 2013 and has been working with a court-appointed monitor.
Wolrige Mahon Ltd. said in its latest monitor’s report that the Land Conservancy should seek a two-year extension to its plan of arrangement, to run to June 2018, and obtain creditor approval for that initiative.
A new administration, headed by John Shields, took over as the Land Conservancy embarked on a restructuring program dedicated to set up a sustainable business model and rebuild public trust.
Armstrong replaced Shields when he retired late last year.
“I think it is just important that we do the right things, that we demonstrate that we are protecting the properties, we pay the debts as we move those properties along, and that’s what we have done. It’s just an important process to do,” she said.
Leaving creditor protection would mean no longer having to pay the costs of the monitor and lawyers, she said, a total of $2.5 million. Of that, $400,000 is still owed.
Unsecured creditors are owed $3.3 million and secured creditors are owed about $700,000, she said.
Since entering creditor protection, the 4,000-member Land Conservancy has won support from many of its creditors, who have forgiven a total of $1.78 million in debt.
The Land Conservancy has repaid its debtor-in-possession loans (an agreement that gives a lender priority in any secured property).
As well, 25 out of 30 secured creditors have been repaid, Armstrong said.
At the start of the process, it held 51 properties around B.C. The majority have been sold or transferred to organizations that will conserve them.
Rather than buying new properties, the Land Conservancy is focusing on covenants to protect land owned by another party. “You don’t have to acquire a property to protect it,” Armstrong said.
The Land Conservatory plans to keep Madrona Farm in Saanich, Abkhazi Garden in Victoria, Second Lake near Mount Work in the Highlands, Nimpo Lake in the Chilcotin, Fort Shepherd Conservation Area along the Columbia River, Clearwater wetland and wildlife corridor in the south of Wells Gray Provincial Park, and the two-hectare Todd Road property east of Kamloops.
At Abkhazi Garden, a mortgage of about $500,000 remains, Armstrong said. A local developer has agreed to buy some of the density that exists on that property. The plan is to for the developer to win approval from Victoria council to use some of that density on another site. If that plan comes to fruition, the organization would receive about $250,000, the monitor’s report said.
Still to be sorted out is the 31-hectare Wildwood site, established by the late Merv Wilkinson. It is managed by the Ecoforestry Institute Society for the Land Conservancy. The society has been trying to raise money to buy Wildwood, but the deal has not closed. A mortgage has been lined up, along with some creditor forgiveness. So far, $135,000 in cash donations have come in, said Kathleen Code, society spokeswoman.
With each delay in the process, confidence of potential donors is eroded and the amount of the offer has diminished, she said. “This is a historical and precious property.”
An arts-and-crafts store has opened on the property and Code said other plans include developing an eco-forestry program for young foresters.
