The City of Nanaimo and Vancouver Island University have been encroaching on each other’s property, so they’ve worked out a trade – one piece of land for another.
The parcels of land are at 900 Fifth Street, and part of Fifth Street itself.
Nanaimo city council, at a meeting Monday, set the trade in motion by passing first and second readings of a necessary road closure bylaw.
The trade will rectify “historical encroachment,” noted a staff report. Dale Lindsay, the city’s general manager of community development, said at Monday’s meeting that a portion of Serauxmen Stadium straddles the existing property line between 900 Fifth Street and 745 Third St., and a section of Fifth Street is being used by the university for parking and access to parking.
The city acquired 745 Third St. from the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district in 2017.
Lindsay said both pieces of land are appraised at $175,000, and the city and university will share costs on legal fees and surveying necessary to complete the land swap.
Nanaimo city council pointed out that the city is trading a smaller 34,000-square-foot piece of land for a larger 74,500-square-foot piece of land.
“The larger chunk that the city’s getting has a good section of that land that is riparian, [along] a creek, so the reality is yeah, we’re getting a larger section, but a good section of which has emcumbrances on it,” Lindsay said.
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