DAY OF MOURNING
ENVISION 25TH
Service remembers A5 workers
Agency’s silver anniversary A8-A9
Issue 1
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
www.estevanmercury.ca
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
Several highway projects coming in 2019 By Ana Bykhovskaia abykhovskaia@estevanmercury.ca
The Southeast Transportation Planning Committee will focus on highway projects regarding the improvements on Highway 47/Souris Avenue South from Fourth Street to the junction with Highway 18, Highway 18 east of Torquay and also the CP Rail crossings east of Bienfait this year. The Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure has these projects planned to start in August. The stretch of Highway 47 is the main priority for the committee. “We in Estevan are hoping that we can tag on to that particular project and come right up to the Fourth Street. We’ve been told that we have to look after any extra fills and we have got a couple of bad spots there and other than that it’ll just be a save and pave, which will be great,” said Southeast Transportation Planning Committee chair Dennis Moore. That part of Highway 47 has heavy traffic on it and now is getting to where it can be dangerous. The Bienfait railway crossing has been on the “to do” list for a long time as well as the part of Highway 18 between Torquay and Oungre. Both projects are scheduled for this summer. Another project that is supposed to happen this year is the construction of passing lanes between Estevan and Weyburn. However, Moore said this plan is undergoing some changes. “There was a bit of a difference between folks that live in the area and the Ministry. And what’s going to happen now, is we are going to move them further west than the original design. It is in the work now, because where it was originally designed there is just too much going on in that particular spot. You’ve got the elevator out there, you’ve got the weighing scale, you’ve just got too many things, so I think they agreed to move it further west,” Moore said. He noted that the committee had a lot of feedback from people who use intersection west of Estevan. “The people that use it, you know, the truckers, they
Dennis Moore pay attention. They are the ones that came back and said, ‘You know, I don’t think this is going to work,’” Moore said. The Mercury will have more details on that project as they become available. Besides highways, the Southeast Transportation Planning Committee is responsible for highway signs and some of the rural roads. And their job is to make sure that all roads in the area are safe, which is usually the number 1 focus especially after winter. “Right now we are going through a very serious program with safety. And under that we need to have all our signs in place, we got to make sure that all our lighting is in place, we have to make sure that the right-of-ways are clear and the sidelines are clear, and in some cases some areas are further back than others, where everything has to be cleared around the intersections,” said Moore. Any buildings or trees that reduce visibility for drivers and may pose extra risks should be removed. Besides, the committee is now working to make sure that culverts are clean and the water goes where it’s supposed to go and not to the neighbours’ land. They also pay a lot of attention to numerous bridges in the southeast, some of which may become dangerous due to their age and condition. “There is a lot of bridges in the area that are many, many years old and have been inspected, but they are getting to the age where they really got to pay attention to the weights not to crash them. So in some areas, the weights have been cut back and we are keeping an eye on that,” said Moore. The committee is also A2 » INTERSECTION
Seeding started before the snow It was a sure sign that spring had arrived in the southeast: seeding was underway last week, including at this operation near Macoun. But a mid-spring snowstorm on Sunday dumped several centimetres of wet snow on the region. And while the moisture was needed in the southeast, it wasn’t the moisture that local farmers had in mind. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Council amends economic incentives pacakage Estevan city council has amended its economic incentives package, increasing the number of opportunities for entrepreneurs to capitalize on to enhance Estevan’s business community. Council approved the amended document at its meeting on April 22. Dwight “Fitz” Bramble, the economic development co-ordinator for the City of Estevan, said these incentives represent an extension of the ideas the city introduced last summer. “We have updated it, and made some additions to it,” said Bramble. The first incentive will involve substantial improvements to a building. If those upgrades are made, and if they increase the property’s assessment, then consideration would be given for a tax exemption for the property. Also, if a new entity leases or rents an existing vacant building for the purpose of establishing and conducting commercial business within the city, then it would be entitled to a property tax levy exemption of up to $10,000
Dwight “Fitz” Bramble per year for three consecutive years. “The business owner – the person who is renting or leasing – must enter into a net or triple net lease agreement with the property owner in order to qualify for this exemption,” said Bramble. The city doesn’t want to be in a situation where it gives the property tax exemption to the property owner, and then the owner doesn’t pass it on to the person who is renting from them by lowering their rent. The third exemption would be that if any new entity purchases an existing vacant building for the purpose of
establishing and conducting a commercial business within Estevan, that company is entitled to a property tax exemption of a maximum of $10,000 per year for three consecutive years. “In other words, before this incentive, the only incentive that we had was that if somebody was building a new building, they would get three years and a 100 per cent tax break.” The city has quite a few vacant buildings that it wants to see occupied, so it is trying to encourage people to purchase buildings and start a business in them. Also, in an extension of the storefront improvements, if a commercial property goes through storefront or façade improvements, including the paving of parking lots, it will be granted a commercial property exemption, equivalent to 75 per cent of the cost of the improvement, or $10,000, whichever is lower. “The rationale behind it is to stimulate and to encourage particularly local businesses. A lot of small business are
not building a new property. They’re not going to be in a position to do it. In order to encourage them to start up a business and make it reasonably affordable, we think that some of these incentives would help.” Bramble said he has received a lot of inquiries and interest about the business incentives the city has. But people were saying it’s expensive to rent a place to start a business, so the city thought in an effort to accommodate those people, they should receive some tax relief. “We’re confident that these additional incentives would really drive an increase in business activity,” said Bramble. Mayor Roy L udwig said after the April 22 council meeting that when they brought the incentives to the Estevan Chamber of Commerce, they had discussed bringing something like this forward. “This is what the economic development board, in discussion with council, came up with,” said Ludwig.
THE NEW 2019 F-150 LARIAT
SUPERCREW 4X4 2.7L 502A (WELL-EQUIPPED)
CAPABILITY FOR TOUGH JOBS. FEATURES TO PUT YOU AT EASE. LIMITED QUANTITY AVAILABLE
Senchuk Ford Sales Ltd.
FIND OUT MORE AT FINDYOURFORD.CA.
118 8S Souris i A Ave. N N., E Estevan t 306-634-3696 www.senchuk.com