The Town of Vermilion is dropping the price of municipal lots in the Yellowhead Business Park.
The lots were initially priced at $99,000 per acre and have been for a number of years. According to administration, the intention was to entice interest in the business park.
Due to high interest rates and the economy, the Economic Development Committee made the recommendation to drop the price in 2023 for both the Yellowhead Business Park and the East Point Business Park from $99,000 to $50,000. The town sold 70 per cent of the industrial land in 13 months.
Council increased the pricing back to $99,000 at the start of this year. According to administration, investors are still looking to pay the $50,000 per acre.
Administration is recommending council drop the price again in an effort to sell the lots.
Deputy Mayor Joshua Rayment says $50,000 seems to be the correct price.
“I see that in here there is some comparable, where Vegreville, we always consider ourselves quite comparable to Vegreville in most things we do, rec pricing or housing or whatever it may be. They’re selling at $50,000 an acre. It seems like this is the right price for us. It did seem to move lots, and if we sit on these lots, we aren’t generating taxes,” he said.
Coun. Robert Snow acknowledged the volume of purchasing with the various prices.
“I know when the prices were higher we weren’t moving land, as soon as we lowered the price to $50,000 we had a bunch of lots sold,” he said.
Council ultimately voted in favour of dropping the price back down to $50,000 per acre. The sale prices will again be reviewed by council in December.
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