Duane Hicks
While town council remains leery of investing in the proposed 27-lot Erin Crescent subdivision, it agreed to let administration tender out phase one of the job to get a better idea of how much it will cost to put sewer and water infrastructure in the ground there.
The topic was discussed at length during Monday’s budget meeting, at which time administration again stressed the need for the town to look to the future and provide opportunities for residential growth.
“Administration has had a lot of discussion about this,” said Fort Frances CAO Doug Brown.
“We think it should be going out to tender to get pricing so you know what you’re doing,” he noted, adding that having money in the ground for future development is better than having money in the bank.
“We know we’ve been talking about, ‘If the mill sells off all of their property,'” Brown remarked.
“But I think this is the time to make sure that we have someplace where, if someone wants to come and live in our community and build a high-end house . . . we’ve got to have lots available,” he stressed.
Brown said increasing the tax base is necessary, and if people have nowhere to build here, “we’re falling behind.”
Even with one lot still unsold at Huffman Court, Brown said the town shouldn’t wait for that one to be sold–prospective property owners and homebuilders need options as to where they can live.
“No one else [other than the town] is going to tie up their money in residential development,” he argued.
“We are seeing townhouses built but this is for residential development,” he stressed. “This is 27 lots, this is a long-term thing.
“Council has an obligation to look long-term.
“We want people to live in our community, and we’ve got be able to have places where they can build new if they don’t want to live in existing stock,” Brown reiterated, later noting that if developed, Erin Crescent eventually will provide payback to the town.
Operations and Facilities manager Travis Rob said he’s personally heard from several newcomers to town who would like to build homes but are not satisfied with the properties currently available.
“They’re looking for property. They’re looking for serviced property, they’re looking for ready-to-build property,” he noted, adding he’s aware Chief Building Official Tyson Dennis also has spoken with other individuals looking for the same thing.
Rob said if council gives the development its blessing, the plan is to proceed with a three-year plan. The first year would include water and sewer services.
The second year would include the installation of utilities (i.e., natural gas, hydro, etc.) while the third year would see curb, gutter, and asphalt put in.
This staged plan not only would spread out the cost over a few years, but also give the town the ability to direct the development based on what public interest is.
For example, the third stage could be deferred if interest is low.
Mayor Roy Avis said he’s spoke to quite a few people interested in the properties. But once he mentions it might cost $70,000 for a lot, “it’s off the table.”
“I don’t think I’d be too far out on those lots being 70 grand,” he added.
Rob said it’s too early in the game to be talking lot prices.
“You could throw anything out there for a lot price because you don’t what the tender is and it’s council decision, at the end of the day, how they want to price those lots,” he reasoned.
“So I think that’s beside the point,” Rob said. “The question is to do you want the development or do you not want the development?”
“I don’t think it’s the right time to be investing in that area,” countered Mayor Avis, adding that, hypothetically, if Resolute said the town could buy the Shevlin wood yard this fall, and the town has put all its money into Erin Crescent, “we’re in trouble.”
Answering this second point, Rob noted if the town were to buy the wood yard, it would have to do several things before developing that land, including environmental work, as well as a reconstruction of Scott Street (and possibly the White Pine lift station), just so the town has the sewer and water capacity to handle a new development in that area.
The first phase of development at Erin Crescent–the sewer and water work–is estimated at $430,000 in the budget, but that amount very well could be lower (or higher) once the bids come in.
Coun. Ken Perry questioned why a town that can’t look after what it already has would want to build more and increase its footprint, suggesting the $400,000 would be better used fixing the town’s roads.
Both Brown and Rob stressed the engineering work was done for Erin Crescent in the past and there’s no harm now in tendering it; just because it’s tendered doesn’t mean it has to be awarded.
By the conversation’s end, Mayor Avis said even though he still feels now is not the right time for starting another residential development, the town at least should get a price so council can make an informed decision.
The only council member to oppose tendering the project was Coun. Perry, who felt its unfair to bidders to tender a job the town might not ever do.
