Starland County has purchased a property of CN land that will allow the County to one day expand its infrastructure shops, and many other possibilities.
The County inked a deal in September with CN to purchase a former spur line that runs north of Morrin to north of Munson where the rail reconnects to the line near Highway 9.
Starland CAO Ross Rawlusyk says the parcel includes a number of titles for the property which is about 98 acres spread over 14 kilometres in length, and includes existing buildings, most notably a rail storage facility right in Morrin. The purchase price for land and fixture came to $324,500.
“It includes a number of revenue properties. As well, as there are a number of crossings along the way, so we will get some annual rent from them as well as part of revenue coming back in,” Rawlusyk explains.
One use the County has in mind is for its shop. “Part of the land is directly adjacent to our works yard in Morrin. That was kind of our key acquisition because it allows for a pretty nice expansion of our public works land holding. In the longer term we have a plan for a new public works facility,” he said.
Now that the County has the property, they are contemplating uses.
“We are hoping to undergo a joint planning process with the Village of Morrin in what the property could be used for in the future,” he said. “We are trying to do the preliminary environment work on all the properties right now so we have some of the background information if there are any issues to deal with. We have completed a Level 1 Environmental already so things look pretty good.”
He adds there is also interest in the rail storage facility.
“We did an evaluation on it last week. It’s a 25 by 75 foot building that is insulated, heated and has power,” he said. “We have already had a couple people enquire about using it for a business, so it does have some usable functions going forward.”
“We look forward to working with the village to see where we can go in the future.”
