The City of Chilliwack is poised to take over a large site on the south side of town originally slated to become a tourism attraction called Candyland.

The nine-acre property at 44390 Luckakuck Way will become the new location of the city’s Operation Centre, to house city facilities like utilities, purchasing and public works.

“There is enormous difficulty in finding affordable land suitable for this type of use,” Mayor Clint Hames said. “This deal allows us to retain ownership of the land, utilize existing infrastructure and provide a new Operations Centre at a net cost of $2.6 million.”

If they had to start from scratch, the land alone would cost an estimated $5.5 million, he estimated.

“That’s assuming we could find a suitable location,” said Hames in a news release. “This plan creates considerable savings for the city.”

The original Candyland theme park idea was unveiled with much fanfare in fall 2003 by Bill Coombes of Chilliwack, who was personally providing some of the investment capital. At a press conference in 2003, he announced there was a “strong business plan” for the tourism development devoted to a celebration of candy. Support came from local MLAs and CEPCO, as well as Giggle Ridge creator Dan Sawatsky, at the time.

Recently questions were asked about the future of the partially built site, which had become a bit of an eyesore.

“We’re really disappointed that a themed outdoor recreational site could not be accommodated in that location,” said Hames yesterday. “The market just turned out to be different than anticipated.”

The under-construction Candyland had been limping along for years seeking major capital investment, ever since the site was first leased out in 2002.

In 2005, the first phase of Candyland construction began at the site on Luckakuck Way, but the second phase was pending a major investment injection into the project that never materialized.

A deal between Coombes and city officials concluded on Sept. 3 saw the long-term lease agreement terminated, clearing the way for the city to purchase the cost of the improvements made to the site as well as the buildings, said the mayor.

Approval came through from the Agricultural Land Commission to change the use of the site, said Hames.

“The potential uses of the site were very limited and this was a good fit,” Hames added.

Also the sale of part of the existing Operations Centre site on Airport Road will help finance the purchase of the buildings and further upgrading of the new site.

“Ultimately this represents a significant win for the community,” Hames said. “This is huge, because we had been looking and struggling with the need to expand our public works yard.”

The Green Depot’s expected move to the Airport Road site was already in the works to accommodate the Evans Road Connector project. Relocation of the operations centre and the green depot are expected by summer 2009, pending the sale of part of the existing Airport Road site.

“The existing Operations Centre is aging and proving inadequate to serve a growing city,” said Hames. “Relocating both the Operations Centre and the Green Depot has been a priority. It has been a significant challenge to find suitable sites and develop a financially feasible plan.”

Based on an independent appraisal of the value of buildings and site improvements, the city paid a total of $3.1 million to take over the site. The estimate for upgrading is $3.8 million and the sale of the existing Operations Centre property on Airport Road will bring in an estimated $4.3 million.

City officials have received “an expression of interest” from an established Chilliwack company for the parcel of land on Airport land. The assessed market value of that property is $4.3 million.

jfeinberg@theprogress.com