CN land development in Neepawa discussed
- Details
- Published on Thursday, January 22, 2015
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Banner
Neepawa is exploring its options with the redevelopment of the former C.N. land. On Tuesday, Jan. 20, council received an update on several proposals from developers that are interested in the 42 acres, near the intersection of Highway five and sixteen. That property was purchased by the Town from Canadian National Railways back in 2013.
Mayor Adrian de Groot confirmed that there are three interested parties who have seriously inquired about the land and added that in the interest of fairness during the vetting process, their names will not be made public at this time.
鈥淭here was be a fairly high level of description of the proposals, of their expression of interest. Not getting into the detail here, because the details become part of a negotiation sometimes as well as the confidentiality issues. Because if there are competing interests we need to be sensitive to those things,鈥� said de Groot. 鈥淪o, what we saw on Tuesday was a fairly high level review of what is being proposed. Is that consistent with the vision that was stated for the development of that property and is it the vision of what the community needs?鈥�
De Groot said that these additional details were gathered by Marilyn Crewe, the town鈥檚 economic development officer, who sat down with each of the potential developers.
鈥淲hat we looked at Tuesday evening was the recommendation. Our Economic Development Officer was the individual who did the interviews as requested by the previous council, in order to get a face to face and to question and to further elaborate on certain parts of their proposal,鈥� said de Groot. 鈥淭he details of those proposals have not been shared with council as yet. So, the intent is at this point, they will be shared based on a constructed conversation based on the priorities.鈥�
During the meetings with the EDO, the interested parties were asked a variety of questions, ranging from their financial wherewithal to the expected time lines for development. The answers were tabulated and marked on a 45 point criteria. For the three developers, proposal A, as it was addressed during the council meeting, scored 31 points, proposal B garnered 40 points and proposal C received 35 points.
All the information will now be distributed to the town of Neepawa鈥檚 Strategic Initiatives Committee. From there, it鈥檒l be reviewed along with the EDO鈥檚 recommendations and then brought back to council as a whole for a final vote. De Groot hopes to see a plan moving forward within the next few months, but notes it鈥檚 best not to rush these types of deliberations.
鈥淥ne of the things that we have to be mindful of is that we don鈥檛 want to jump the gun. We don鈥檛 want to develop for development sake. It鈥檚 a long term project, a long term investment in the community. It needs to be consistent with the strategic plan as to the land use,鈥� said de Groot. 鈥淎nd you know, who do we short list? Who do we consider? Does it meet all of the values as identified? So, we鈥檙e not going to assume that one or any of the proposals will meet the overall criteria or the plan for the future. But at least, this is that process that was started and this council will have the opportunity to take a look at that and see whether it鈥檚 consistent with future plans.鈥�
