Nearly a year after asking city council to provide water services to its commercial development north of Moose Jaw, Cowan Farms Ltd. will soon connect its operations to the municipal water source.
During its May 23 regular meeting, council voted unanimously to authorize the business’ request for a water connection to the existing four-inch line west at the 16th Avenue Northwest right-of-way and approved city administration to negotiate an agreement for the water services.
The connection point will be at Normandy Drive.
Cowan Farms expects to consume roughly 5,100 litres (1,350 gallons) per day, which, based on modelling from February 2022, should not risk the city’s water network, a council report said.
The future agreement will include provisioning for metering and billing of water services, while the business will bear the capital and maintenance costs, the document continued. Furthermore, city hall will establish the water consumption rate at 2.25 times the municipal rate, similar to other rural water users.
City hall will receive a connection fee payment of $68,750, based on the commercial development’s need to service roughly eight hectares (20 acres) of land out of its total 40 hectares (100 acres), the report added.
Council discussion
Coun. Doug Blanc thought it was positive that the Cowans’ water use would not affect the city’s supply because he believed their project was important. However, he wanted a further explanation from city administration about how it would know if supply troubles occurred.
The engineering department supplied data about the water network to a contractor who models water and sanitary sewer flows, while it also worked with the fire department to test the output of area hydrants, explained Bevan Harlton, director of engineering.
The department then wrote the Cowans’ request for 5,100 litres per day into the agreement, and if they exceed that amount, both parties will have to re-discuss the business’ needs, he added.
Blanc acknowledged that not every business or industry could be within city limits, while some must remain outside those boundaries. However, he thought Moose Jaw would benefit economically from this project because most people working for the Cowans would live and shop here and contribute taxes.
Background
Cal and Deborah Cowan originally approached city council in April 2022 asking to connect to city water lines to service their land at SE-13-17-27 W2 — adjacent to Highway 1 on the north side — in the Rural Municipality of Moose Jaw.
Council approved their request to connect to either a private four-inch water line on 16th Avenue Northwest or the city’s eight-inch line near the north service road. The Cowans’ lawyer told council that while connecting the 20-acre parcel to the four-inch line would suffice for now, they preferred the eight-inch line because of volume and pressure requirements.
Since the couple wanted to subdivide the property into quarters for agricultural, industrial or commercial purposes, they had 15 years to pay $55,000 to the City of Moose Jaw for the developments.
Their first payment was to be $11,000, while the remaining $44,000 — $14,667 per subdivision — would be paid as more subdivisions occur. City hall will forgive the outstanding amount if the remaining money is not fully paid because no further subdivisions occurred.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, June 13.
