Business owners gathered for a fact finding meeting - the first of three - to be held with the city's economic development team. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Meet and Greet

Meet and greets ongoing with N.B. business owners

Aug 27, 2024 | 4:08 PM

A group of local business owners sat around a table at the local A&W restaurant recently pondering the question: How does the city grow?

They were brought together by the North Battleford Economic Development team as part of a series of three ‘meet and greets’ with the goal of brainstorming ideas that will lead to a more prosperous economic future, update the community and attract visitors. The meetings are the start of a formal process to initiate a development plan.

“It’s my intention to bring this back to the council by the end of September,” said City Manager Randy Patrick.

“That’s why we’ve got planners here. That’s why we’ve got admin people here. That’s why we’ve got infrastructure people here,” he said.

“You all have come from a different perspective, and we want to understand what you guys think.”

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Patrick believes the city’s growth has been limited by a stigma associated with crime severity. The population has stayed the same since 1985 and he suggests it has to do with the fact that North Battleford always ranks among the highest per capita for crime.

“We’re never gonna be first anymore,” he said to laughs around the table.

Instead, he’s hoping to focus on the positives. While there is only so much money to go around, Patrick said the city has ‘phenomenal facilities’ in place and there are ways to enhance and develop what’s already established.

As an example, Patrick referred to the work being done through the city’s UPAR program to improve roads and infrastructure. He also mentioned growing Northwest College’s offerings to attract more students, and he said the city is also looking to bring back incentives for new businesses.

One of the first issues attendees brought up had to do with businesses and empty lots in the north part of the city. A local businessperson said over the years they tried to ‘deal with the city’ on incentives or price breaks on some of the land but that never came to fruition.

“We need them filled,” he said.

Another businessman, Harry Zamonsky agreed. He said he owns property in Kelowna, Calgary and North Battleford and the taxes he pays are less in British Columbia and Alberta than the city.

“What we need is we need a major industry to help spread the tax load on all the goodies that we have,” he said.

“We’ve have recreation to the nines, we’ve done a lot of good things, but we keep talking about juggling what we have. We have nothing to juggle in comparison to what we’re dreaming about here.”

Ultimately, he said the city needs to “compete on a major basis in order to help the little guy that’s already here.” He proposed the city should give property to legitimate industry by offering tax benefits.

“We’re looking inward too much,” he said.

Vagrancy was another sticking point the group spoke to and said stronger police and CSO (Community Safety Officer) presence would be helpful. Patrick said although they are working with RCMP, the CSOs don’t deal with criminal code violations.

“There’s only six of them and we’re trying to get some fairly good coverage all day long,” he said.

So far, two ‘meet and greet’ sessions have taken place. Candace Toma, public and intergovernmental relations coordinator said the topics were similar during both sessions.

In a meeting Tuesday morning, questions about zoning in the Parsons Industrial Park to allow for office space were asked.

“We will bring [that] forward as a suggestion,” she said.

Another takeaway from the latest meeting included questions around incentives to rehabilitate exteriors on buildings to freshen up the community’s appearance.

“Everybody’s very quick to jump on the negative,” said Toma, noting it happens in other communities as well.

Ultimately, the goal is to find a way to make the city a “decent” place to live.

“I hope in a couple of years we get rid of the ‘crime town’ image that’s out there,” Patrick added.

The last meet and greet will be held at the library on Wednesday, Sept. 4 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

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