Council sees industrial inventory in Lloyd

Lloydminster Council has received a snapshot of its industrial inventory.

The industrial inventory analysis was presented to council at the Dec. 9 Governance and Priorities Committee meeting. 

The report gives council a baseline look at the inventory of Lloydminster’s industrial and mixed-industrial real estate. It also analyzes current and future market demand and identifies new opportunities.

The city has total gross land of 2,165 acres, 1,705 being occupied. Lloydminster has an estimated 5,399,409 sq. ft. of total building space. Of that, 5,082,747 sq. ft. is occupied. In total there are 335 businesses in the city and 460 acres of vacant or undeveloped lots.

During question-and-answer period for this document, Coun. David Lopez asked how the city is positioned with its inventory of land and if they’re prepared for growth. 

City manager Dion Pollard says the city has reserves ready.

“As we sell our land, we will develop the current land we already have serviced, as we sell that land that money will go into reserves. It was constructed in 2013, so it has already been paid for by the city. The profits from that will go into reserve and it will pay for the next round of servicing if we have to purchase more land. We should have enough money to fund that,” Pollard.

Lopez wants to ensure the city has the money to pay for future growth.

“I want to make sure that we’re financially set, so we do have the money there and we’re not going to the community,” said Lopez. “I know the off-sites and stuff like that pay for a lot of that stuff, wanting to make sure we have the reserves in place if we do need to develop land.” 

Pollard says any money that exists in the land reserve is used only for land projects.

“Probably five, six years ago we made a conscious effort to make sure all the land transactions stayed in the land reserves, and that land money was not supplementing taxes and that has continued and so any sales from lands go into that reserve and always for land division projects,” said Pollard

Coun. Michele Charles Gustafson asked where stakeholders would be able to access the fine details of a building or property. 

“One of the important pieces to this inventory is for our team to in great detail understand what is available for those investment opportunities. Understanding what we have and who to contact is really important to us,” said Katlin Ducherer, Lloydminster economic development officer.

Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers says the city should be prepared for any opportunity to come.

“We don’t know what the next big opportunity is, I know you’re working on multiple things. We’ve also got private developers who are out selling the city. To the new council members and those re-elected, for council including myself, we have a job we also become the sales people to support the team to bring new business whenever we have the opportunity.,” he said.

He says the report is a positive for those looking to develop industry in Lloydminster.

“I think what the report brings forward it gives the community, namely our economic development team for the city as well as surrounding municipalities, some information that is very beneficial when site selectors are looking at our community for investment purposes, building a warehouse or building a new industrial facility complex,” said Aalbers. 

Upcoming actions for this document include internal circulation, developing a promotional plan and the creation of a strategic plan to present targeted business cases for investment opportunities.

Read more: Council looks to fund intersection project through grant

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Christian Apostolovski
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