While SaskPower consulted with the public about their proposed natural gas power plant, the City of Moose Jaw and Associated Engineering in Saskatoon sought feedback on the concept plan of the Southeast Industrial Park.
“It’s been an excellent turnout which is really good to see. Overall people are very excited about the potential,” said Jim Dixon, manager of economic development for the City of Moose Jaw. “Moose Jaw hasn’t really seen an industrial park development like this. The concept plan is coming to the final stages and then the design work will happen.
“The fact that we have a major project here with SaskPower, it’s an amazing opportunity for our city and really our region.”
The proposed industrial park will be located south of the Moose Jaw River and east of the No. 2 Highway. The concept plan outlines 700 hectares for the park, which is 7 km2. Moose Jaw is currently 46.82 km2 meaning that the total size of the industrial park is 15 per cent of the size of the city currently.
The community plan that began the process of creating the park was created in 2011 and then the lands were annexed by the City in 2014.
“The location did prove good for us,” said SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry of their proposed natural gas power plant, the first project planned for the park. “This spot was preferable for several reasons. In terms of access to water it’s good because we need water to operate the plant and it’s going to be connected to the municipal water system from Moose Jaw; ease of connection into the grid via new transmission lines that we’re going to have to build; proximity to the areas that are going to be using the power and needing the power. This is one of the more populous areas of the province with Regina not far away and Moose Jaw here.”
Dixon said that SaskPower’s early involvement is “making it easier for tenants to want to locate there.”
“SaskPower is a huge catalyst and a very critical component of the ultimate long-term development of the park,” Dixon said. “The interest is already there. There’s a lot of interest and we get a lot of inquiries. With SaskPower, I think it will speed things up.
“It won’t happen overnight, but we hope that there will be a steady investment in the park.”
Some of the infrastructure that would be required for other tenants in the park will be available to some extent following the completion of the SaskPower project.
“It really reduces, maybe, the cost to potential investors to locate. So that’s an incentive,” Dixon said. “We have huge assets in terms of our location and our rail, our intersection of the two highways, so really the strategy with the park is that it’s a great asset in terms of where it is and the potential with it.
“We certainly have a vision for the park: a lot of value-added agriculture, warehousing/distribution and so we think those things will come along sooner than later.”
When the City first reached out to stakeholders in a series of public meetings, some of the main concerns voiced were protecting property values, the aesthetic and environmental impact of the development and providing adequate buffers between industrial and residential areas.
“There are some strategies around buffering and making it attractive to existing residential. There is also the potential for a residential buffer zone and the green space that we use,” said Dixon who added that the feedback has largely been positive. “There are traffic and some of those things that you need to work out. We need to address at this point in time and not after the fact.”
Dixon added that if the public missed the meeting and wanted to offer their feedback on the project they could do so through the City’s website.
