Moment with the Mayor: Housing Development

Hi Everyone:

Kindersley in on housing developers map. Since December 2012 two large housing developers have contacted the Town Office regarding purchasing property on which to develop housing. We have clearly communicated that there interest is most welcome but that the process by which they obtain the land is open and transparent. Neither developer objected to being open and transparent.

However, our land inventory is limited. AlSask is developing two parcels and have submitted a site plan for the 4.6 acre piece. The third piece of land, where the old ball diamonds off of West Road are, is currently under litigation; we are currently working to have this land freed up for development. In the meantime our other piece of land is our urban reserve land east of Caleb Village.

In April I spoke with the owner of a development corporation who would like to purchase the urban reserve land for development. Following the conversation I took the information I learned and brought it to Council. As a result Council has directed Administration to develop a “Request for Expressions of Interest” (REOI) to develop the urban reserve. Administration is developing the REOI and we are hopeful that development can start within the next year. An REOI is a means of asking potential developers if they are interested in building here and what they would do with the land.

The Town and 19 residents on the 300 block of 3^rd / 4^th Avenue had a little excitement starting April 22^nd; a water line broke. The water line that broke was not one that had been identified as likely breaking. After working hard to fix the line it broke again. Over the course of repairing the situation, which took about 3 days to repair including the construction of a temporary water line, it was discovered the line was first build in the 1950s and was 11 feet deep rather than 8/9 feet deep. As you can tell there was some frustration. To make a long story short: there was a lot of damage and inconvenience for a great neighbourhood. To fix this line it cost almost $500,000. Thankfully the Town has a reserve for such emergencies.

Bouquets go to the great crew and the patient neighbourhood as their water line was fixed.

Please write or phone if you would like me to discuss a particular topic. If you have any questions or comments drop me a line at the town office or email me at mayorenns-wind@kindersley.ca. I appreciate your feedback.

Have a good week!