MOOSE JAW — City hall plans to close — and sell — a portion of a street adjacent to a business on Wood Lily Drive to resolve a longstanding land boundary issue.
During its May 26 executive committee meeting, city council authorized city administration to create a street and lane closure bylaw for a strip of land — Street/Lane 2, Plan 77MJ07701 Ext 0 — next to 12 Wood Lily Drive.
In turn, Moose Jaw Esso Gas and Car Wash will be responsible for all fees connected to the closure, subdivision, sale and transfer of land, including any required easement agreements.
Council gave three unanimous readings to the bylaw during its recent regular meeting in June, which means the business can proceed immediately with the subdivision, sale and consolidation of the street.
“These lands are not required for the transportation of vehicles,” a council report said.
In an email, city hall said the street’s closure is occurring to address a land boundary issue that’s been outstanding for more than a decade. Esso Gas and Car Wash has historically used a piece of an adjacent street parcel — roughly 0.064 hectares (0.16 acres) in size — that includes underground fuel tanks and storage sheds that the company installed in 2013.
However, Information Services Corporation (ISC) failed to correctly map that parcel and show the existence of the adjacent street, which led the property owners to believe that land was part of their lot, the email said.
Closing and subdividing this portion will allow the city to legally transfer the land to the business, which will ensure the latter continues to comply with laws and eliminate future municipal liability for land that the city is not using or requiring for other purposes, the email continued.
Esso Gas and Car Wash will be responsible for all costs with this initiative, including paying fees to acquire the Ministry of Highways’ approval, advertising and issuance of public notices, surveying, subdivision processing, and transferring the land title, the city added. These costs, along with expenses to confirm the location of the underground tanks, are expected to cost more than $13,000; the city is transferring the land for $1.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, July 14.
