A new Agro-development in the RM of Prince Albert is being welcomed by local officials as a sign of growth and improved access for farmers, truck traffic, and commercial users in the area.
Reeve Tyler Tait said the project’s location at the junction of Highway 2 and Elevator Road could make it easier for trucks and agriculture producers to reach the site without having to travel through the city.
“I think it’ll help with their new location,” Tait said. “Because of the highway access, that junction is becoming busier now because of the Co-op moving in there. We’ve also been working on paving the access road beside it, so that’ll give trucks and agriculture producers better access to the site without having to travel on grid roads and into the city.”
Tait confirmed the development is located at Highway 2 and Elevator Road in the RM of Prince Albert.
Lake Country Co-op director of marketing and community relations Brittney Rosenberg said Phase 2 will add a 38,000-square-foot retail and warehouse facility designed to meet the needs of today’s farmers.
She said the new phase will also include a cardlock fuel station with 24/7 pay-at-the-pump access, along with washrooms, showers, and overnight parking. Rosenberg said the cardlock will offer multiple grades of gasoline and diesel, including marked and unmarked fuels, as well as diesel exhaust fluid dispenser. She added that Phase 1, the fertilizer blending facility, was completed in the fall and has an 8,400-ton capacity.
“By bringing together equipment, crop inputs, feed and fuel, all in one location, we’re helping producers really save time, streamline their operations and stay competitive in an evolving industry,” Rosenberg said.
The reeve said the project matters not only because of what is being built, but because of what it could do for the movement of ag products and commercial traffic on the edge of Prince Albert.
There were not many major municipal hurdles tied to the project, he added, although the RM did make a rezoning change to allow for commercial use.
Aside from that rezoning work, the municipality was pleased to see the investment move ahead in the RM.
In his view, the project fits with the kind of growth council wants to attract.
“It just means that we’re open to commercial business,” he said. “We’re hoping with the mining announcements in the north and the hospital announcement in the city that more commercial business will be attracted to the RM and that we’re a great place to build.”
The RM also has tax incentives in place and commercial property available for development, which he believes helps make the municipality attractive for future investment.
Tait also said the project should bring practical benefits for farmers and rural residents by making agricultural products easier to access closer to the highway.
“In practical terms, it means that they have better access to the ag products they need,” Tait said. “They don’t have to travel into the city with their grain trucks and semis to get product anymore. It’s all available right off the highway.”
That access point, he suggested, could become increasingly important as more development takes shape in and around the RM.
Tait said council does not rank one investment above another, but added it was glad to see a development of this scale choose the RM as its location.
“No development in our eyes is better than the next. I mean, they’re all a great investment in the RM, and we value them all equally,” he said. “We were happy that the Co-op chose our RM as their location for the new site.”
He said the municipality hopes the project will eventually serve a wider area beyond its own boundaries.
“I think it’ll serve a wider area beyond the RM in the future, once they move into their next phase of the development,” Tait said.
That broader reach matters because the municipality is always looking for new investment and new businesses, and wants to be ready when those opportunities come.
“We’re just glad to have them. We’re always looking for new investment and new businesses in the RM, and we’re ready to receive them.”
For the RM, the development is about more than one project at one intersection. Tait said it points to the type of commercial growth the municipality hopes to welcome in the years ahead, while making access easier for the people who live and work in the region every day.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
