The Porpoise Bay land that was the proposed site of the Sechelt Sustainable Communities (SSC) project is once again up for sale, this time under court order.
SSC Properties applied in 2015 to rezone 162 hectares (420 acres) made up of several smaller lots in Porpoise Bay for a mixed-use development, but the proposal was abandoned after a March 2018 council vote that rejected sending the application to public hearing by a margin of 6-1.
Court documents show the land was the subject of a Supreme Court of BC foreclosure proceeding brought against the company in June 2018 by Eagles Edge Capital Corporation.
Eagles Edge claimed in its court filings that SSC defaulted on a loan of $10.75 million in June 2014 that had grown to a debt of just under $11.2 million by June 2018.
SSC’s response took no position on the claims, but asked the court for “liberty to apply for an extension of the redemption period and/or conduct of the sale of the lands.”
The property was listed late last year at $23.8 million, and the real estate company handling the listing took the unusual step of including the political and zoning history.
“The current owners applied to rezone the property to create a more sustainable community,” the listing pamphlet said. “The application had widespread community support but was turned down by the previous council. Subsequently only one of the past council members was reelected in the recent municipal election.”
The zoning remains CD 13, a comprehensive zoning put in place to allow the Silverback development, which included a golf course and 1,600 homes.
On March 14, the court issued an order for “conduct of sale,” giving Eagles Edge the exclusive right to “list the lands for sale until further order of the court or until the lands are sold.”
The property was recently re-listed for $13,988,000, and the new listing references the property’s current zoning and the fact that any offer is subject to court approval, but makes no mention of the political history of SSC’s rezoning application.
When SSC purchased the land from the Silverback proponents in 2014, they told Coast Reporter the price was $11.75 million, and shortly after their zoning application was rejected, company officials said it spent as much as $2 million including studies, events and community engagement in support of the rezoning application.
