(Town of Biggar)

By Josh Ryan

Better Biggar

Biggar mayor, adminstration working on fundraising for community rejuvenation

May 6, 2021 | 4:55 PM

Since the announcement last month of a community facelift, the Town of Biggar is feeling continuously more confident that Biggar is going to get better.

The infrastructure update, that will reorganize the town into four zones, is being funded through donations with up to $2.5 million being matched Wayne and Ina Lou Brownlee, former residents of the community. Mayor Jim Rickwood said the project is necessary in order to rejuvenate and reinvent Biggar, particularly the downtown area.

“It’s a new day and it’s contributing to a bright future for our town,” he said.

The town’s four zones will consists of a gateway entrance, transition zone, business core and a grand central park. Rickwood partnered with the Brownlee’s back in 2019 to bring the project forward and it quickly caught plenty of buy in, the hope being to ultimately secure $8 million or more by next spring.

“We will definitely find a place for [additional donations] in this project. We can always go up,” Rickwood said.

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Before the shovels are in the ground, there’s plenty of work ahead with contractors, consultants and more. Rickwood said this moment is a perfect time for them to start such a major project, given signs that there may be a shift of people moving into the province, but also the economic benefits the project immediately provides to companies and workers. He said that it means hard work in procuring donations and potential stimulus from the government, but that comes with instant reward and even bigger long term effects.

“We’re hoping to get some of that and provide some employment opportunities,” he said.

CAO Marty Baroni said rejuvenation to the downtown core was identified quickly, due to both its usage from residents and the ability of attracting business in the future from its upgrading. However, there’s plenty of work before those upgrades are started.

“We’ve identified that we have aging infrastructure below the ground that we have to take care of before this project gets going,” Baroni said. That way we aren’t making changes, then having to break up concrete to do repairs.”

The potential for population growth comes not only from residents possibly leaving larger centres like Calgary, but for the specific attractions that Baroni said Biggar could provide. In addition to close proximity to the Battlefords and Saskatoon, both Rickwood and Baroni pointed to reasonable housing, safe water supply and plenty of recreation facilities and opportunities. With residents across Saskatchewan flocking outdoors during the pandemic, the town has seen those resources utilized far more frequently.

“We saw a huge increase in recreation last summer, so we’re making further enhancements there as well, separate of this project,” Baroni said. “We have a lot to offer and that’s why we can still thrive during this time.”

The rundown of the town’s plans are available here.

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josh.ryan@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports