麻豆视频

The City of Yorkton is growing.

That growth is putting the squeeze on the City in terms of having the necessary property to facilitate residential, commercial, and industrial growth, said Mayor James Wilson in a presentation to the regular monthly luncheon of the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce.

As an example Wilson pointed to downtown commercial property.

"Today we have no commercial land in the city. What exists is privately held," he said.

As it stands there are only four commercial lots in the Yellowhead Subdivision (near WalMart).

The City is developing lots behind the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce offices, and is already being approached by parties interested in them, said Wilson, adding they will not be ready until the fall of 2012, or into 2013.

"So we're running out of commercial," he said.

The situation is nearing the same on the residential side. While there is room for some 90 lots on the newly planned York Colony, east of SGI, said Wilson.

Once those are gone, there were 76 housing starts in 2010 in the city, a new subdivision will be required, which Wilson said can take three years from the start of





planning until it is ready for new home construction.

So the City needs room to grow.

To facilitate that growth the City wants to bring land it already owns into its boundaries, a process which will necessitate annexation of the land from the Rural Municipality of Orkney.

Wilson said the City owns a number of parcels of land around the outskirts, including the Yorkton Airport property, land along Grain Millers Road, and a purchase effective January 2012 land south of Queen Street.

"We want to bring the land that we own into the confines of the city," he said.

The Mayor said annexation "is a very simple process, or at least it should be."

That has not been the case in working with the RM of Orkney, he added, noting they started the process in May 2010.

Since then the City and RM have exchanged letters, and met several times, but no agreement has been reached.

In September, Wilson said the City recognized "we were not going to get this solved," through negotiations with the RM, so have taken the matter to the Provincial Arbitration Board.

The PAB ruled on a similar case at Swift Current this year, imparting the City to compensate the RM 15 times tax raised on commercial property annexed, and five times on agricultural land, an offer exactly the same amount offered by the City of Yorkton to the RM of Orkney.

Wilson said they need their land in the city boundaries so that once they invest in service infrastructure -- water, sewer and roads -- they would realize the tax revenues from future development.

"We want to resolve this for the benefit of everyone in this region," he said.

As part of the PAB process, a public meeting will be held at the Gallagher Centre, Thursday, Dec. 15, at 7:30 p.m. where both city and RM residents can have input.