The Village of Roche Percee is continuing to work towards the creation of a new residential development in the community.
As The Mercury reported in April, the Village has decided to develop lots on a 10-acre section of land located at the village's southern boundary. The land, which is located out of the flood plain, was purchased with the intention of a land swap in which people who lost their homes during the floods of 2011 would be able to swap their property for a lot in the new development.
After they were unable to secure government funding for the land swap proposal, the village council decided to move forward with a new plan that will see them partner with a company, which would develop the land and build new homes.
At the April meeting, Mayor Blake Penna said because the Village does not have the resources or expertise to undertake such a project they would hire a consultant to guide them in the process.
"The reality is if we try to do this on our own; I don't know how sewer and water is supposed to get hooked up, so we would be trusting a contractor fully to do that properly," Penna said. "You hire a consulting firm to do that - to do all the design and layout whereas if we have to do that, we have to be making all the decisions and taking the time to go out and find an engineering firm to do everything basically. This takes a lot of the burden off of us and we need that."
Penna said they have a consulting firm in place and were expecting to hire a geo-technical firm to go over the land to ensure it is safe to build upon.
"That will tell us where and what we can do with what parts of that land," said Penna. "That (geo-tech report) is going to be a big thing because if they come back and say that we can get a total of two lots because it is all undermined up there, that is going to be a big problem. We want to have the geo-tech done by the end of May, early June if we can. Shortly after that we hope to have submissions of development and design as far as roads, streets and sewer and layout of the actual development. Mid-July we hope to be breaking ground but that is incredibly optimistic."
Aside from the land development task, Penna said the Village has also been focused on the creation of an official community plan and building bylaws. That job has become especially important as the village deals with the post-2011 realities.
"It's a plan to say what we want to do with the community and what we want Roche Percee to look like," Penna said. "It's kind of the first step in shoring up the gates and the foundations and the walls of the villages bylaws so we don't have man camps in town and we don't have people running around doing as they please. It is basically, here is what we can do in Roche Percee and here is what we can't do."
Penna said the provincial government was extremely helpful in helping Roche Percee create the OCP, noting with their support they got a year's worth of work done in roughly four weeks.
"There are a couple of guys in that community planning office that have been awesome."
While their dealing with the government on the OCP went swimmingly, the same cannot be said when it comes to dealing with the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program.
Penna said they are continuing to deal with PDAP on their claim from 2011. At issue is garnering enough money to pay for a community hall and new town office, both of which were destroyed in the flood.
In the case of their community hall, PDAP is willing to pay Roche Percee just over $79,000, which they deemed to be the building's market value. The problem is, to replace the hall would cost the village over $500,000.
"It's right on their engineering report; $506,000 to replace it and they are giving us $79,000. If we were a Moose Jaw or Weyburn or Estevan, we could probably soak that up with a mill rate increase. But we are not a big centre and we don't have $500,000 sitting in our coffers.
"Part of PDAP's mandate is to replace to pre-flood conditions. That tells me that they will replace the hall, but they are not allowed to have any improvements whatsoever so it can't be any better than it was before, which begs the question how do I build a 65-year-old building?"
Penna said they are dealing with a similar situation regarding their town office. He estimates the replacement cost for the facility is $250,000. The PDAP replacement figure is around the $50,000 mark.
"They are really helping us out on the legislation side, but the financial side is where we are really struggling. It's a tough go at the moment."
Penna said they have a tender out for a new hall and office to give them an idea of just how much money they will need.
He added the community is also in desperate need of an administrator after the recent retirement of Lyndon Stachoski who held the position for a brief time after leaving the City of Estevan.
