North Battleford Mayor Ryan Bater shown at Monday's meeting. Council approved a property sale and environmental assessment for a proposed new build on 99 St. for a daycare facility. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

New life for vacant lot

NB sells lot for daycare facility build

Jul 16, 2019 | 5:00 PM

North Battleford Daycare Centre has found a new home and is expected to be taking over two properties not far from its current location.

Council approved the Daycare’s request to purchase a vacant lot at 1152 and 1162 99 St. for a total of $70,000.

The city will share the costs with the daycare to have an environmental assessment done for the property, since the site used to house a former city outdoor swimming pool which the city buried in the 1960s.

The offer is conditional on the environmental report assessment.

“It’s a great fit for the area,” said Mayor Ryan Bater following council. “It’s nice to see an interest in those lots. It will do a lot for the area in general; it will be good to see development there.”

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Planning and Development Director Jennifer Niesink recommended the city accept the offer as the land has been vacant for many years. Since there is a pool buried it will cost more for the developer to build on the property as well.

“We feel their offer of $70,000 is fair,” she said. “We’re recommending we move foreward with that, as well as the cost sharing. Hopefully, we can get this project into the ground this year.”

She said the city was able to negotiate a reduced cost with the company completing the environmental study and begin at phase two in the process, since the city already had some information of what was underground at the site.

Niesink added there are many positives for the daycare to build in the location.

“This would be a great development for this area,” she said. “It’s in an area where apparently there is a high demand for daycare. They would be re-locating from a church location but they would like to stay on that side of the city, so that is something they are looking at.”

The daycare said in its letter of offer to the city that it is a non-profit, and a registered charity.

It has been situated at 1312 99 St. in a church basement for 41 years, however, as board president Brandon Whitt wrote, the “conditions and atmosphere are not conducive to a healthy environment for educating our children in their early years,” so the facility has been looking for a new site to operate.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow

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