It looks like the long-rumoured Montana’s restaurant development is finally coming true on Carlton Trail.
But they will have to go ahead without a tax credit from the City of North Battleford.
On Monday, city council turned down a request for an incentive for the Montana’s restaurant at 604 Carlton Trail (604 is an address between Mark’s Work Warehouse at 602 and Comfort Inn and Suites at 610) .
The request had come in correspondence from Paige Manegre, who is one of the three partners for the project. The others are Leon Lozowchuk and Connor Manegre. Their plan is for a $2.3 million build on Carlton Trail. Their correspondence also stated they expect to employ 25 full-time and 30 part-time staff.
They put forward an incentive proposal where taxes would be based on land value alone for 2020, where it would be discounted at 50 per cent of full assessed value in 2021-23, and at a discount of 25 per cent for 2024.
The problem, explained Director Of Planning And Development Jennifer Niesink, was that their proposed incentive did not fit any of the incentive programs currently in place in the city of North Battleford.
The location is in the southeast quadrant, outside the boundaries of both the Downtown Revitalization Incentive Program as well as the Key Corridor Incentive Program. There used to be an incentive program aimed at export industries but that is no longer in place.
Niesink noted that Montana’s “are applying based on the downtown incentive, which does not apply to the Yellow Sky area.”
It was also noted in a city memo from junior planner Brett Kitchen that similar incentives had not been given to other businesses in the area.
Niesink told council administration was not recommending incentives for the Yellow Sky area at this time.
In the end, while members of council made clear they were enthusiastic about the Montana’s development going forward, they nevertheless unanimously turned down the tax incentive request.
