The Town of The Blue Mountains is taking the first step towards the possible sale of the 171 King Street property in Thornbury.
At its committee of the whole meeting on April 29, council approved a report from CAO Shawn Everitt that requested permission to call a public meeting with regards to the possibility of the town declaring the former Foodland property surplus for a potential sale of the land.
The town purchased the property several years ago with a plan to eventually transfer ownership of the land to the Blue Mountains Attainable Housing Corporation to be used as an affordable/attainable housing project, with commercial components.
However, that process failed when there were no bidders for the project, and the property has been in limbo since.
In March, council asked staff to begin the process to consider Requests for Proposal (RFP) from the public for a potential sale of the east-end property.
The first step for an RFP process would be for the town to declare the property surplus, a process that requires a public meeting.
“Staff recommend that the public consultation process be completed in advance of any further RFP process to ensure that the 171 King Street property could be considered surplus before receiving proposals through the RFP process,” Everitt said in his report. “Council has the opportunity to consider the potential uses of the 171 King Street property at a later date with the benefit of hearing from the public through the formal public meeting process.”
Council voted unanimously in support of the resolution and Everitt said the public meeting would take place on June 25.
