During last night's meeting of Weyburn City Council, the decision was unanimous to approve making six fully-serviced vacant properties on McTaggart Drive available to builders at half price.

The City of Weyburn was previously involved in the development of vacant city-owned land into new residential subdivisions. In 1989 the first phase of the Assiniboia Park subdivision was approved and development commenced in the early 2000s, this phase included McTaggart Place, Johnston Drive, and McTaggart Drive. Phase 2 was approved in 2010 which includes Veterans Road, Veterans Way, Schlosser Drive, and Button Road.

The City of Weyburn has moved away from carrying out subdivisions for purposes of developing new residential areas due to private developers and land owners undertaking those developments. However, the City still owns several lots in the existing Assiniboia Park subdivision that have not been sold yet for residential dwellings. 

According to a report delivered at Council by Development Officer Janine Fletcher, the six available lots on McTaggart Drive are listed at an average price of $18.28 per square foot, but the City of Weyburn's pricing is not very competitive with other similar size municipalities in the province, so the pricing could be reduced to remain competitive with other municipalities. So the average with the approved 50 per cent reduction would be $9.14 per sqare foot.

"I think it's a really good decision," said City Councillor Laura Morrissette. "I was actually on Council 10 years ago, when we were at the height of the building boom, and everybody wanted lots here in Weyburn. It has settled down, now, and really, we've put the investment in as the City to service all of those lots, so we just want to make sure that our taxpayers dollars are being spent wisely, and if it means a bit of a reduction, and making sure those lots get sold, I think that's the responsible way to go."

Fletcher had noted it costs the City between $1,500 to $2,000 per year to maintain the properties.

Morrissette noted some may wish to build their own home, and this deal would offset the costs of building supplies.

"Some people really do like to have that 'from the ground up' experience rather than maybe buying a house that's already built, so this is a great way for them to take advantage of maybe a bit lower price to start that process, because building right now is not cheap, especially fall over price of lumber and stuff so the City of Weyburn just wants to contribute to making things a lot easier for people."

These lots are available on the City’s website with information about pricing, zoning and available services.