FFWD REW

Can’t always get what you want

Council paves way for retired media mogul to buy city land

Money it is said can’t buy you happiness.

But if you’re ex-telecommunications CEO Jim Shaw bucks can get you a 3500-square-metre plot of city-owned land to expand your massive residential lot in Crescent Heights with a panoramic view of downtown Calgary.

City council paved the way for Shaw’s purchase by rezoning the land adjacent to his house that is connected to McHugh Bluff. Most of the land will be used to expand Shaw’s private yard.

However the city won’t reveal how much Shaw is paying for the land until the deal is rubber-stamped.

Last November a reportedly inebriated Shaw berated colleagues and investors at a Vancouver restaurant meeting. The 53-year-old retired soon after and was handed a $16000-a-day pension.

Ald. Dale Hodges who voted against the rezoning says council made a mistake in selling the land. The city could have instead issued a “landscape lease” for a nominal fee he says.

“That way they have a bit of control of the site but they don’t have the right to dispose of it” he says. “That would have been the solution… but it didn’t happen.”

Email: thowell@ffwd.greatwest.ca

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