The Saskatchewan Municipal Board (SMB) has come down with a ruling which will allow for the City of Yorkton to move forward with annexation of lands it already owns within the Rural Municipality of Orkney.
The approval was by a majority vote of members of the Municipality Boundary Committee of the Board, and the ruling was provided to the city last week.
Yorkton Mayor James Wilson was obviously pleased by the decision, noting "all of the land in question is already owned by the city."
Wilson told members of local media at a press conference at City Hall Monday the decision will allow the City to better plan for its immediate future.
"This ruling allows us to move forward to meet growing demands for residential, commercial, industrial and institutional developments," he said. "the Committee finds that the City's need is real and well supported."
The City's current boundaries encompass approximately 2,657 hectares (6,567 acres). The subject lands to be annexed from the RM consist of approximately 917 hectares (2,265 acres).
"Much of the subject lands are either currently used for or occupied by City utilities and services (airport, wastewater treatment, sewage lagoon, landfill) or proposed City uses (public works facility)," noted Wilson reading from the SMB decision.
Annexation will add 450 acres for industrial development and 400 acres for residential and some commercial development.
In terms of that development, commercial land along Grain Miller's Road could be developed as soon as a buyer steps forward, said Wilson.
Land earmarked for residential south of Queen Street will likely by a few years away, although that time will be needed to prepare to land, explained City Manager David Putz. He said the City will begin engineering work early in 2013, adding, "We'll start moving dirt and putting in services within three years if that's required."
Putz added something such as the announcement of a new potash mine in the area could fast track the timetable.
Wilson said the SMB recognized the City's need for additional land for development was critical.
"It may be that the City currently has sufficient land for the next two to three years, but with the rapidly changing development and growth environment being experienced in Saskatchewan, a 10-year supply of undeveloped land is preferable. Developers traditionally prefer to have a three-year supply of developed lots (some would prefer to have a five-year supply) with a 10-year supply of undeveloped land available for development. Further, a growing municipality should be looking to the longer term so that applications for annexation are not required every three to five years, with some suggesting that a 25-year window is more appropriate ," he said reading from the decision.
The annexation issue with the RM of Orkney has been ongoing for more than two-years, culminating in the SMB decision.
Wilson said the SMB obviously recognized the reasons for the annexation put forward by the City were valid.
"In this case, the application may be characterized as a combination of increased demand for land development and the City's desire to maintain and improve the management of its own land holdings," he said, again reading from the decision.
"For the most part, the land earmarked for future development is undeveloped, un-subdivided, raw land and where it is not, it is developed only for municipal utility purposes (landfill, sewage treatment and storage, airport, potential public works facility) and not for re-sale or re-development. Having these City-owned undeveloped, un-subdivided, raw lands within City boundaries opens up opportunities for the City to develop them or have them developed on the City's terms
"Having an adequate supply of developable land beyond its current inventory enables the City to provide options to residential, commercial and industrial land buyers so that they are not limited to buying existing in-fill properties or properties otherwise unsuitable to their needs."
Wilson said the SMB clearly recognized the primary issue for the RM was one of the levels of compensation being offered by the City.
"It is obvious to the Committee that this application is more about compensation and the lack of cooperation between the municipalities than it is about the reasons for expanding the City's boundaries," he read from the decision.
The City had initially offered the RM five times the annual assessment of agricultural land and 15 times the assessment on commercial.
The Committee's decision orders the City of Yorkton to pay to the RM of Orkney as compensation for the loss of taxation on and the investment in municipal infrastructure to service the annexed lands a sum equal to 12 times the municipal tax levied on the subject lands in 2011 which is $191,313.48.
Putz said the money will be paid to the RM in a single payment, with the money already set aside in a reserve account by the City.
Wilson said the final amount is within one per cent of what the City originally offered, or less than $2,000 difference.
When asked what the additional costs associated with the process which ended with the SMB decision, Putz said all the invoices from City solicitors have not been received, adding it will likely be October before the exact costs are known.
Wilson said while there will be significant costs associated with the process, it was an important one to see through, as the decision sets a precedent for future annexation for not only Yorkton, but other Saskatchewan urban municipalities.
