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By this time next year, this parcel of land near the junction of highways two and 11 will look a lot different. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)
Land Sales

RM of P.A. finds home for new maintenance shop

Jul 13, 2020 | 12:30 PM

The Rural Municipality (RM) of Prince Albert has agreed to buy a 25 acre parcel of land south of the city for $325,000.

The parcel of land is located near the junctions of Highways 2 and 11, and will be used to house among other things a new maintenance shop. Reeve Eric Schmalz explained the RM has been searching for 20 years for the right piece of land to buy.

“Anytime anything came up for sale in the RM we have always looked at it, and had a survey of the land and always found it didn’t quite fit the bill for what we needed but this particular piece of property was a perfect fit,” he said.

The RM’s current maintenance shop located off fifth Ave. E, was built in the 1960s, and according to Schmalz had outgrown its use. He said the new purchase will offer the RM the opportunity to store aggregate.

“Instead of driving to the pit all the time, we can have some material storage there, and there’s some room for future expansion as well,” Schmalz said.

One of the factors that helped accelerate the search and sale was a recently announced grant by the provincial government for municipalities to assist with infrastructure projects. The RM has applied for an amount just over $500,000. While the land purchase won’t be covered by the grant, construction of any infrastructure such as a maintenance shop will be.

“If we find that 25 acres is just too much or more than we need, than we can always sub-divide and sell that off,” Schmalz said.

The RM hopes to break ground on the land in the fall.

As of last week, the provincial government had approved just under $14 million of provincial investment under the Municipal Economic Enhancement Program (MEEP). All MEEP 2020 funding must be used by March 31, 2022.

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell

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