Dauphin’s retail landscape is about to fill out a little more as Shoppers Drug Mart Ltd. has taken out a City of Dauphin building permit to construct a new store.
The store, planned for the former Village Mall location at 1430 Main Street South, will be approximately 15,000 square feet in size and employ up to 30 people. Construction costs are estimated at $2.45 million.
While not commenting specifically on the Shoppers Drug Mart project, mayor David Bosiak said retail developments are vital for the future of the community.
“Any kind of development that increases assessment is strategically important for our community, because it’s the only way that we can grow. And when I say grow, I mean grow sustainably. I’m not reaching for double digit growth like some of the communities around the southeast corner of the province have experienced and the challenges that come with that,” Bosiak said, adding that by making Dauphin a great place to live, work and raise a family, growth will follow. I believe that our council has a very strategic opinion on how we can grow sustainably, having wonderful community culture, by creating an environment of willingness to work together and to work on projects and the partnerships that we have coming down the road.”
Among those partnerships are the ones the City has with Pine Creek and Ebb and Flow First Nations with which they are currently involved in an addition to reserve process.
“We’re not chasing the big factories, we’re not chasing sort of low paid, under skilled workers. We’re chasing community builders. People who want to come and stay in our community,” Bosiak said, adding he has made a point of interacting with newcomers to the community to get a sense of how things are going. “And most of them seem pretty positive about the community and what they can get here. We’re close enough to Winnipeg and a big airport, but it’s a stable quality of life with, I’d like to believe good leadership, both administration and at city hall, with the right kind of initiatives coming out the other end.”
As a way of facilitating the Shoppers development, and at the same time sending a message out into the world that Dauphin is open for business, a special incentive package was developed by the Economic Development department to secure the development.
The package, valued at up to $50,000 includes:
• A rebate on water and sewer hook-up costs up to $25,000, conditional to the City performing the work. Payment would take place after construction has been completed and all bills are paid. Value: $25,000
• A 50 per cent rebate on dumping fees for the demolition waste from taking up the existing concrete slab brought to the City’s landfill site. Again payment would take place after construction has been completed and all bills are paid. Value: $5,000
• A 25 per cent rebate on the first two years of the net difference in the municipal portion of property taxes between the current assessment and the newly-assessed value of the property after completion. Value: $20,000.
Construction of the new store is expected to begin this spring, as soon as conditions allow.
Incentives such as this, tailor made to a specific project is quite likely the way of the future, Bosiak said.
“We have a couple of different kinds of incentives, but we also understand that one glove doesn’t fit everyone’s hand. So if we want to ensure that we’re responsive and that when we get into discussions or negotiations that the other entity or partner or proponent will understand that we can work with them,” he said. “So that if others want to come here, they know that they will get fair and equitable treatment.”
But, Bosiak added, there is only so much a municipality can provide to anyone and council and city administrators are acutely aware about not making promises that can not be delivered.
“It doesn’t quite happen and then, oops what do we do now?” he said. "So tailor made is probably a great way to describe how we want to move forward.”
