For now, the future of the Valley View Centre property will remain unknown, but eventually, it'll come down to market value.

Representatives from various departments from the Government of Saskatchewan held a town hall-style meeting Wednesday to discuss future possibilities for the use of the property with the public. 

The Government of Saskatchewan Department of Central Services is the current owner of the property. A Request for Proposal (RFP) will be opened Nov. 13 and close Dec. 11.

After receiving several questions and suggestions regarding the future use of the property, Nancy Cherney, ADM of Property Management Division for Central Services said the government will likely not ask questions about the future use of the property by a buyer. 

“Generally when we receive proposals, we don’t rate the intended use on it, we look at value," said Cherney. "They may not even explain to us around the intended use. We look at it in terms of: does it meet our minimum value? It’s a sale process.” 

Built between 1950 and 1955, the property is comprised of 23 buildings and 200 acres of land, which has been divided into four parcels. The Wakamow Valley currently has a lease on 30 acres. 

Frank Shuurmans, Director of Reality and Planning for Central Services, said before the decision was made to sell the property, a multi-step process was undertaken. 

"The first step was to identify any alternate options for use by the program area or any other government ministry for current or future use. There was no specific need identified. We then moved on to the next step in our process and engaged a third party independent appraisal firm to determine a fair market value. Once we established a market value, an opportunity was presented to the Wakamow Valley partners to acquire the land and buildings at a fair market value, or as negotiated."

Shuurmans said at that point, the Wakamow Valley Authority and its partners, including the City of Moose Jaw, did not express an interest in buying. 

"We provided information to each of the partners of the Wakamow Valley Authority in accordance with the legislation giving them the opportunity to acquire that land through negotiation with us," said Cherney, "and the respondents, including the City of Moose Jaw, indicated that they were not interested in pursuing that mechanism, other than the Wakamow Valley Authority, who we have had some follow up conversations with. But the other partners in Wakamow Valley Authority partnership did not express an interest in acquisition at that time. So we didn't get to the point of negotiating a price range." 

If at the end of the first round of bidding no successful buyer is selected, Shuurmans said the government will have to look at other options, such as offering sections of land or buildings, or building components for sale separately.

Other questions were asked in regards to the geographical integrity of the land and the issue of slumping that has occurred in the past. 

"The property that the Government of Saskatchewan owns is still within the jurisdictional boundary of the City of Moose Jaw," said Cherney. "So they will determine the zoning and the use, the slump zones and the ecozones, and [the buyer] will have to be in compliance with whatever the City of Moose Jaw determines is appropriate, in terms of future development." 

It was also noted by one member of the public that there may be some areas of Indigenous burial sites in the northern portions of the land. 

Tom Richards is the Senior Archaeologist with the Heritage Conservation Branch, Parks Culture and Sport for the Government of Saskatchewan. He said that there are processes in place for developers when they get to the stage of developing the property. 

"If somebody were to buy the property, and then they decided they were going to [for example] put a subdivision on part of it, that subdivision plan is reviewed by community planning in the government. If they are changing the land use to a development that would disturb the land, that is something that we would review. They look at the heritage sensitivity. They would look at that as a matter of routine, and if the proposal was on heritage sensitive land, it will be referred to the heritage conservation branch."

For now, Central Services cannot publicly release the market value summary for the property, as it could negatively impact the RFP bidding process.