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City reveals proposed plan for southeast quadrant

Mar 9, 2018 | 9:00 AM

The local community had a chance to offer input on the city’s development plans for the south-east quadrant of North Battleford Thursday evening.

The plans include a proposed location for the new arena near the exhibition grounds, which will replace the aging Civic Centre, as well as more residential, commercial and green spaces. The plan also proposed uses for some currently-vacant areas. City Manager Jim Puffalt said the city has heard calls for more housing and retail spaces.

“People have talked to us about housing, residential. We know we need another area for big box development so that’s probably the area we’ll start looking at,” Puffalt said.

Area stakeholders said they were optimistic about the city’s plans for future development.

“I like the plan,” Battlefords Chamber of Commerce President Terry Caldwell said. “I really like the idea of all the commercial [use space] in there, and adding residential … It will make this area a lot more dynamic.”

The proposed new location of the Civic Centre would mean the Exhibition’s parking lot and midway would need to be relocated. Battlefords Agricultural Society General Manager Jocelyn Ritchie said she is concerned the midway would need to move to accommodate the new arena.  

“We would like to have part of that land because it is developed to put the midway on,” Ritchie said. “It’s very important that it’s well-developed, flat, stable land … Other than that, it looks like a good plan.”

The First Nation which own some of the land in the quadrant wants to have some input as a community partner with the city in plans for the future.

Little Pine First Nation Chief Wayne Semaganis said Little Pine owns quite a bit of land in the area. Semaganis said he’s excited about the project, but would like to see more consultation.

“It’s a great project but there has to be more meetings … and we, as a tribal council, would like to be a part of that,” he said. “We need projects like this where First Nations and non-First-Nations learn to work together and support each other and help each other grow.”

Saskatoon firm Urban Systems has been working on the project in collaboration with the city. Urban Systems Community Planner Bryan Gray said he is trying to balance the interests of the existing users and make sure to put a “sensible plan together” for the area that is economically and environmentally sustainable.

Gray said the firm will be listening to public input and concerns, and will follow up with stakeholders before presenting the finalized plan to city council in July

“This is really the beginning of a conversation,” Gray said. “We’re working on refining the concept based on the feedback we’re getting.”

 

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow