City Hall in North Battleford is making it known they are not pleased with a proposed industrial subdivision in the RM of North Battleford.
The proposal calls for a parcel of land to be subdivided into nine industrial or commercial sites and the idea is to accommodate new development in the RM adjacent to Railway Avenue.
The Community Planning Branch had brought the proposed subdivision to North Battleford council for comment and review.
But the location of the industrial subdivision, adjacent to the City’s boundaries, has raised a red flag for administration officials.
At Monday’s meeting, city council passed a resolution advising Community Planning Branch to refuse the industrial park, citing several concerns.
One of the main issues is traffic going into the area from Territorial Drive. Railway Avenue and McMillan Road would be the two access roads to the proposed subdivision from Territorial.
“It’s increasing the intensity of the area. It’s going from one 40-acre parcel to eight or nine different industrial parcels,” said City Manager Jim Puffalt to reporters after the council meeting.
“So that’s going to increase, we believe, traffic onto Territorial Drive. Certainly that’s the same type of development that we have in our industrial subdivision. This is very close to the residential, it’s already there. It also is bordering on future residential that may come at some point in time.”
The “future residential” that Puffalt refers to is located directly to the south of the proposed industrial subdivision. The existing residential area is located half a kilometer away to the southeast.
“Incompatible land use” was among the concerns expressed by the City, referring to those nearby residential areas. Other concerns were the implications for fire and protection, future growth of the City, and the impact on infrastructure such as roads.
As for the potential increase in traffic, concern was expressed about safety going in and out of the proposed industrial park onto Territorial Drive. The City is urging a Transportation Impact Assessment be done before any development takes place.
“It’s more so the infrastructure on Territorial Drive that is going to be an issue,” said Puffalt, who is concerned North Battleford would foot the bill for those costs.
He described the development as an “urban-type” industrial park, and added it “probably shouldn’t occur on our borders.”
The RM also proposes to develop 14 residential acreages near the river valley. They would be located about two kilometers from the city boundaries and Railway Avenue and McMillan Road off of Territorial Drive would be the two access roads to it.
This time the city advised Community Planning Branch they had no issue with the rezoning of the area to residential, but had concerns about the impact on City infrastructure. They recommended a Transportation Impact Assessment be done.
