Weyburn's business community has been buzzing with excitement over the recent announcement by Nicor Developments, a Regina-based developer which wants to begin work this spring on a major residential development on 52 acres of the Souris Valley grounds.This is major news for a community like Weyburn, particularly when there is an ongoing housing shortage in the area that is helping to stall some of the growth and expansion that businesses and industries want to get underway in the southeast region.Now, there have been some questions raised about the proposal, such as whether there was sufficient public notice about it, or if there was any opportunity for the public to have a say about what's being proposed.Some time ago, the City of Weyburn held a series of open houses about how the Souris Valley grounds should be developed, with a number of scenarios set out with people given the opportunity to voice their opinions, including just generally what should be done with the grounds, left vacant with the demolition of the historic Souris Valley Extended Care Centre, formerly known as the Weyburn Mental Hospital, or the Saskatchewan Hospital.One of the outcomes of the open house was, not very many people actually came out to voice an opinion, not even at the public meeting held to discuss the design proposals. If the public was apathetic at that time about how Souris Valley should be used, why would they all of a sudden more interested now?The other point to make is that Nicor sent out a press release ahead of their Jan. 23 meeting with city council on their proposal, so if any members of the public wanted to know more about what was being proposed, there was an opportunity to attend council and hear all about it, or else by reading the subsequent coverage provided by the city's media.The proposal was studied by the members of city council, as well as by the Chamber of Commerce and SEREDA, and both of those bodies considered this to be an excellent proposal worthy of support; council thought so as well, and approved the sale of the 52 acres of land to Nicor.Now, it's up to Nicor to make the development work, and to ensure that any concerns citizens have are taken care of, such as how the park-like grounds are going to be taken care of, and how the historic aspect of the grounds will be respected.
