Sackville acquires land for police, fire station

Sackville is another step closer to having a new police and fire station built in the community.
Outgoing Mayor Jamie Smith confirmed the town completed the deal last week to purchase two pieces of property on Main Street, across the street from Moneris Solutions and located next to a town-owned site that will house the new combined fire hall and RCMP building.
With the newly-acquired properties, Smith said the land on which the proposed building will sit totals just over four acres. He's pleased the town was able to obtain the two properties so that the new station could be built downtown.
"We've been looking for property, as you know, for quite a while. And that area is large enough, with the other people selling, to house our police and fire station downtown," he said.
"There had been land mentioned on the outskirts of town but we really wanted to keep it in our downtown core. It's nice to keep it in the downtown area."
The town already owns what is known locally as the 'Blue Jay' property, located on Main Street, and Smith said he started hearing earlier this year that one of the property owners next to the site was considering putting their home up for sale.
"I got wind that one of them was willing to sell; I had heard they were planning on listing (through a real estate agent)."
Smith said the town approached the property owners, who then both decided to work with a local real estate agent to make the deals.
He said he's unsure of whether the town could have gotten a better deal, so to speak, by purchasing the properties directly from the homeowners but said that wasn't an option.
"It just so happened that it went through a listing," said Smith. "We can't control how the properties become available."
Although he didn't reveal the purchase price, Smith said the price tag for the properties was within the budget council had set.
"We had done a budget for what we wanted for a land purchase and site work and everything else (for the new fire and police station) and it was within our budget," he said.
"We kept it in the budget of what we were looking for."
And although there may have been concerns several years ago over possible flooding in that area of town, Smith said those problems have been alleviated.
The town partnered with Moneris in 2004 to conduct storm water work along Main and Charlotte Streets as well as underneath the business' parking lot.
"They're not seeing the flooding anymore in that area. We've cured that area and we've moved the water away," said Smith.
"That's dry land up there; we never would have purchased it if we thought there was going to be flooding."
Smith said the new council will have to determine what will be done with the homes that currently sit on the property.
"We really haven't discussed it as a council what would be done. So they will have to sit down and look at what are the best options."
He did acknowledge that it would be pricey to relocate the houses and they would likely have to be torn down.
"If we went to tender and tried to sell those, it would cost a fortune for someone to move them any distance."
Smith said he's pleased the town now has a "home" for the long-awaited building that has been talked about for several years.
"We're very close with the commissioner on a deal with the RCMP and this just solidifies it, saying to them, 'listen guys, we are serious about this.' Hopefully this will speed things up by us being able to say, 'Hey we're ready to go. Let's get going."