North Battleford is going to hold a special meeting next Monday to discuss two important issues regarding the southeast quadrant of the city.
The meeting, to be held August 27 beginning at 7pm, will discuss issues surrounding an office building project proposed for Frontier Way as well as the continued discussion regarding the proposed First Nations Heritage Park.
In the meantime, resolutions on both issues have been tabled again to an upcoming regular council meeting.
The latest discussion Monday centred once again on a proposed donation of land by the city of North Battleford to go towards the Battlefords First Nations Heritage Park Corporation for the proposed Heritage Park project there.
Councillors received an independent appraisal report from Western Appraisals on the market value of Lots 6 and 7 in the southeast quadrant, both of which were proposed to be donated for the heritage park.
According to the appraisal, the market value of Lot 6 was appraised at $820,000 and for Lot 7 at $380,000.
Council appeared to be taken aback by the findings of the appraisal. Coun. Grace Lang admitted she was "very surprised" when the appraisal came back.
She also wanted to know the impact of the land on the surrounding area and suggested more discussion was needed on the subject. Councillors agreed to discuss the whole issue of the Heritage Park at length next Monday night.
Also on the agenda for that evening will be further discussions on a discretionary land use application from North West Community Futures to develop an office building at 504 Frontier Way, located on the east side of Territorial Drive between the Great Canadian Oil Change and the Frontier Mall.
At issue was whether a stand-alone office building should be located in that C3 commercial district, known for big-box retail and other stores.
"This location is a location that is probably our largest shopping district within the city," said city planner Tim LaFreniere.
LaFreniere suggested such office development should be focused in the downtown C-1 commercial zone and recommended to council that they deny the application.
However, councillors wanted an opportunity to consider the issue at greater length. Mayor Ian Hamilton noted the complexity of the issue and the wide-ranging implications the decision could have.
As a result, the issue on the office building is on the agenda of next Monday's meeting. In the meantime, a resolution on LaFreniere's recommendation to deny the application has been tabled to the next regular council meeting.
