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RMOW grabs chance to buy Fortis site for $1.2 million

Money to come from capital reserve fund
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It's not clear yet what the municipality wants to do with the Fortis site on Nesters Road but it's paying $1.235 million to keep its options open there.

Council has authorized municipal staff to enter into an agreement with Fortis for the site.

A conditional deal is now on the table.

Top of the list of possibilities is expanding and rejigging the often-cramped compactor/recycling site at Nesters.

"It's in a strategic location, immediately adjacent to our transfer site and two doors away from the public works yard," said Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden.

"So we don't have any current plans for it but it did seem that it was something that we should, if we could get it at a reasonable price, that we should look at securing it."

The money will come from the general capital reserve fund.

In his report to council to ask for a budget amendment to clear the $1.235 million, the municipality's director of finance, Ken Roggeman, wrote:

"The specific use of this site has not yet been identified, with possible uses foreseen to be Works Yard expansion, natural gas fueling infrastructure needs, solid waste and recycling infrastructure expansion, or other uses compatible with the area."

Roggeman refers to the advancement of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs as a possibility on the site. An EPR program identifies end-of-life management of products as the responsibility of producers. It deals with products such as electronics, applicants, paint and engine oil.

"The opportunity to purchase a parcel that provides the expansion opportunities that does the Fortis Gas Nester parcel is rare," wrote Roggeman. "The purchase price is in alignment with staff's assessment of market value for this parcel."