review
weyburn Vol.111 No. 48 - Weyburn, Saskatchewan Wednesday, November 25, 2020 - 14 Pages
.com
Ready for Tree Festival
Update on new play equipment
The YF Wives decorated a tree for the Festival of Trees virtual fundraiser.
An update was provided on St. Michael’s new accessible playground equipment.
Page 3
Page 9
1.25
$
Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40069240 Publication Mail Registration No. 09093
(Includes GST)
Weyburn Industrial Transload getting closer to starting up
A little Christmas cheer on the Souris Valley trails
Review Photo -- Sabrina Kraft
A few Christmas ornaments decorate the entrance of one of the Souris Valley trails, located on the northeast side of Saskatchewan Drive. The Souris Valley trails, and the long street of Saskatchewan Drive, provides a nice little walking/running path for local residents who are looking for a quiet place for their outings.
Contentious development of liquor store a highlight of first council meeting By Greg Nikkel A contentious application for the development of a new liquor store was the main highlight of the first meeting for Weyburn’s new city council since the civic election. The matter had come up just before the election, and was initially turned down as the application was for a development permit for a new liquor store and warehouse in the former Olympia Fitness location, next door to Calvary Baptist Church on First Avenue NE. After extensive discussion, the application was approved on Monday by a 5-2 vote, with councillors John Corrigan and Dick Michel opposing. After the original motion was rescinded, the application was brought back before council with an amended report by planning and development coordinator Janine Fletcher, as changes were made to the original application for a development permit.
Even with the changes, which included improvements in the parking lot setup, and changing the term from “warehouse” to “stock room”, Fletcher said staff still opposed the permit being approved, because of neighbourhood concerns, back alley truck traffic and the buffer strip located at the rear of the property. Repeating concerns she had in the original application, Fletcher said she could not approve it with the proposal for loading spaces in the rear part of the building with a nearby residential neighbourhood and the two churches close by, Calvary Baptist (with a playschool located there) and Silver Heights Bible Church. The sticking point was the municipal buffer zone, and Fletcher noted this was backed by the Official Community Plan, the zoning bylaw and in a second opinion she obtained from a planner who is on retainer to the City, WSP. Also, while changing
the name of the warehouse to stock room, the intent of storage and distribution of liquor products still remains, and Fletcher reiterated that this use is not a permitted or discretionary use in that neighbourhood. “I’m still of the opinion that this application should be refused,” she said. In contacting the neighbours within a 75-metre radius, the two adjacent churches are maintaining their opposition to the proposed development, although the pastor of Calvary Baptist, Tim MacKinnon, suggested if the development is allowed anyway, possibly the City could ask that a fence be constructed to separate that property off from the view of the church. Coun. Mel Van Betuw put forward the motion to support the development permit, saying, “I think council’s job is to make the big decisions. I struggled with this in the last two to three weeks, and I think
if you put up a fence and planted trees, that would mitigate the noise.” He added that his fear is this business would move elsewhere out of Weyburn if the City didn’t move to accommodate them, and noted most of the councillors who were elected ran on platforms of supporting economic development. Coun. Ryan Janke, who was newly sworn in as the final new councillor, echoed Van Betuw’s comments, and said, “When a business comes to us, I think it’s incumbent on us to start with ‘yes’ and consider how we cam make this happen.” He added one solution would be to allow the business to cross the buffer and not to sell a part of the buffer to them. “I’m also in favour of things moving forward, but I do have some concerns,” said Coun. John Corrigan, asking why the loading doors couldn’t be in front of the business rather than behind it. Continued on Page 2
By Greg Nikkel A new rail-based initiative, Weyburn Industrial Transload, is getting close to when they will be able start up, with some details needing to be finalized in the next while, members of the Weyburn Rotary Club heard in a Zoom presentation on Thursday. Carter Stewart is the manager of the new venture, and he provided a bit of an update about how the project has been progressing since it was announced earlier this year. He and his father were founding members of Stewart Southern Railway, which was a shortline railway that ran from Stoughton up to Regina. The Stewarts are no longer involved in the running of the shortline, but they still have shares in the company. For WIT, about 6,500 feet, or just over a mile, of rail track has been laid in place on a parcel of land located a mile and a half south of the Ramada Hotel, or just west of South Hill. “This idea came about two years ago, after I saw a transload site in downtown Windsor,” said Stewart. “We’ve been kind of working on this for the last two years. Even with the coronavirus, we’re excited to be up and running within a couple of weeks.” The transload facility will bring in or load out various commodities by rail car, said Stewart, noting he doesn’t want to specify which commodities at this point until more of the details have been finalized for the company. Stewart said there are other transload facilities around, but not very many privately owned ones like this facility will be. Asked how many people will be employed, Stewart said he is hoping to have around five people working
Weyburn’s new city council meets for the first time
by next summer, including himself. As the business grows and becomes more wellknown in the coming years, he is also hopeful they will be able to add more track and more employees also. Asked what expectations he has for business to pick up for the new operation, Stewart answered, “I hope rather quickly, I’m confident even with COVID.” On the possibility of rail car dismantling, he noted they are looking into that, as long as there is track space available, but added, “When that will happen, I’m not too sure.” At the most basic level, Stewart explained, WIT is “providing a service that allows people to access rail, for people who could not previously access rail.” He added in an interview later, “Short-lines are very advantageous, and allow a different kind of access to rail, if you take a moment to think about what a short-line is. It’s essentially formed when a group of people purchased a abandoned rail line or section of track from a class 1 railway, in an effort to keep operating it and help keep communities alive. There are many formed in Saskatchewan and western Canada, and I had the pleasure to be involved with many of them and the association for nine great years. “For example, the SSR has had a lot of investment over the last 10 years along its short-line, it’s no secret it can be noticed by driving down Highway 33. However, WIT is strategically different, as our business model relies on being a transload versus a short-line, the population of Weyburn is greater, the surrounding industry is larger, also there are busier highways and it’s closer to larger centres. Continued on Page 6
Review Photo 2878 — Greg Nikkel
The new city council for the City of Weyburn met for the first time on Monday evening, after Coun. Ryan Janke was sworn in, in the council chambers.Those around the table included, from far left and going clockwise, finance director Laura Missal, city engineer Jennifer Wilkinson, councillors Ryan Janke, Mel Van Betuw and John Corrigan, Mayor Marcel Roy, councillors Jeff Richards, Laura Morrissette and Dick Michel, city clerk Donnette Richter and city manager Mathew Warren.