The City of North Battleford has agreed to sell land on 741-110th Street to Lesmeister Construction for developing a proposed parking lot.
The price tag is $18,295 and the lot would serve as additional parking for three strip malls on the east portion, also owned by Lesmeister Construction.
This was a second attempt by Lesmeister Construction to purchase the lot in question. The first was in early 2018 when they had approached City Hall with a similar offer.
But that offer ran into trouble. At their Jan. 22 meeting then-city manager Jim Puffalt had said the proposed parking lot did not fit the character of the block, which was residential. The issue ended up tabled and the offer was eventually withdrawn.
Another issue is that a parking lot would run counter to city policy. According to a memo to council from Nov. 12, city policy requires land sold by the city to have a building constructed after purchase.
The reason why the city is going ahead this time is because no other purchasers have come forward expressing interest in building on the lot.
“This is a property we’ve had zero interest from the time I’ve been here,” said Director of Planning and Development Jennifer Niesink.
Because the offer from Lesmeister Construction fell outside the city’s policy, council approval was needed for the sale to proceed and in the end council voted in favour.
