Situations like this are what the City of Prince Albert is trying to prevent with changes to its empty lot program. (council agenda)

By Susan McNeil

Development incentives

City looks to sweeten the deal with developers, sell more $1 lots

May 1, 2024 | 3:45 PM

The City of Prince Albert is hoping to attract more housing development by making some changes to existing programs, such as easing the cost of demolishing derelict properties.

Council heard recently that the planning and development office would like to see some changes, such as making it cheaper to demolish beat up and unused buildings.

“There is a significant cost associated with vacant lots, there is a significant cost associated with derelict properties and to see them re-imagined and to develop ways to see new taxation revenue is paramount to these types of programs,” planning manager Craig Guidinger said.

He asked council to consider several moves; including more financial incentives on the $1 lots for sale in the West Flat area.

In 2017, the city decided to sell multiple properties it owned through tax recoveries for $1, all in the West Flat neighbourhood.

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Some of the 13 lots available for purchase for $1 (screen shot/City of PA website)

“The uptake on that was slow. We’ve seen two or three of these properties sold over the course of time. As two are sold, we see three or four brought back onto the market,” Guidinger said.

Mostly it is non-profit housing agencies who are interested in the lots, and they aren’t willing to park $10,000 with the city for months or years.

“I believe those two conditions have held up the use of those properties. Often it’s non-profit organizations, non-profit housing agencies that want to purchase those properties and they don’t have $10,000 to just give the city to hold on to for any amount of time,”

He asked council to remove the current $10,000 retainer and the quit claim requirement to help make the decisions easier.

The city currently has 13 of the lots up for sale. It had 11 in 2017 when it first started the program but some have sold and new ones have been added,

Derelict, rundown and boarded up homes are a problem – and a significant cost – to the city’s.

With two bylaw officers, one position could spend its entire workweek dealing with them.

Since 2020, there have been 15 open files and that can mean up to 50 visits, said Guidinger. That adds up to a lot of time and time is money.

“The demolition of those houses, especially if the property owners are on board, could go a really long way to freeing up time and allowing our bylaw to focus on more important things,” he explained.

With a cost of between $10,000 and $15,000, demolition of existing structures is the single biggest deterrent for developers, Guidinger told council.

Discussion also turned to another building program where buyers of vacant lots can get a $10,000 rebate when buying some vacant land and building on it.

The incentive applies to lots that are privately owned and have been vacant for longer than three years.

READ MORE: Housing supply shrinks in Prince Albert

To help fund the rebate, the city started charging owners of vacant lots a minimum $1,600 in taxes last year. It more than doubled the previous tax bill levied and, while filling the pot for development incentives, also worked as a stick for property owners who didn’t want to pay the higher amount.

No decisions were made but council asked Guidinger to come back to a future council meeting with more details.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com