Staff at the town hall of LeRoy are preparing for a happy event.
With a 3.6 per cent increase in population since the last census five years ago, the town is one of several communities in the Humboldt area that have experienced significant growth and are expecting more in the future.
"In the past two and a half years, we've had 17 new homes built, and it looks like we'll have another seven or eight this year that we know about so far," said Anne Block, Economic Development coordinator for the Town of LeRoy, "That's quite a bit for a small town. It's growing pretty quickly."
LeRoy's close proximity to the site of BHP Billiton's proposed Jansen potash mine - just six miles away - has projected the small town into the limelight as a place that will be welcoming future employees and their families into its fold.
With that in mind, the town of LeRoy has already begun to address the issue. The town formed a committee to address the situation, the LeRoy and Area Growth Management Project, with representation from the Town of LeRoy, the Rural Municipality of LeRoy No. 339, and local businesses.
"We started that project in 2010 to work on a development plan," Block told the Journal, "and we basically have six initiatives we are working on."
The first item on their list, she went on to say, is to develop a tool for evaluating prospective development.
"That means basically seeing if what the developers would like to do here fits with what we want," said Block, "and also to evaluate them as developers."
The committee will also be looking to identify various funding sources that may be available to the town for different projects it is considering, and doing a strength analysis evaluation to determine what the town's current strengths and weaknesses are.
In line with evaluating prospective development in the community, the committee will be implementing a housing action plan through the project.
"We had done a housing action plan in 2008," Block said, "and we are revising that according to current market conditions. We will also be contacting the structures that are in place for help with development."
The structures Block refers to are regional organizations, such as Prairie Innovation Enterprise Region or Sage Hill Community Futures, who offer assistance to communities like LeRoy that are looking for solutions to achieve growth successfully.
And lastly, it will be working towards an infrastructure assessment. Already the town upgraded its water treatment infrastructure in 2006 when it put in a reverse osmosis system. Block says the town could double its population and it would still be able to meet the needs of all the residents and businesses.
The Town has recently doubled its land mass with the acquisition of 135 acres of industrial land as well as property previously owned by CP that is being zoned for commercial development.
"We have quite a bit of interest already in the industrial land we just annexed into the Town two weeks ago now," Block said. "We will welcome as much growth as we can, in both population and businesses.
"You want the growth, but you want to keep it safe," she added. "The main thing is to keep it safe, yet maintain the friendly, small-town atmosphere."
