Niverville’s council met in the evening of Tuesday, May 19 to discuss a variety of items on the town’s agenda. Councillor Kevin Stott was absent.
New Business Incentive Grant
The Town of Niverville is creating an incentive grant for new business developers. CAO Eric King says the program will be designed for people building commercial or industrial spaces and will reduce their carrying costs by reimbursing municipal taxes for up to one year during development until their building has been completed and has full tenancy.
“We know we have developers interested, who have tenants lined up, but maybe not to full tenancy,” said Mayor Myron Dyck. “To help them fill their tenants, by carrying tax costs until they are full, we would help them out.”
Dyck also clarified that the program will grant back taxes, not forgive them, and the landlord would have the option to pass along these savings to the tenants.
New Trailer and RV Service Business
Discussion arose about a proposed retail space for Metro Centre Ltd. in preparation for the business’s move to Niverville.
Formerly located on Nairn Avenue in Winnipeg, the trailer service business sells some trailers, but they mostly provide parts, service, and after-market accessories for RVs as well as ATV and boat trailers.
After asserting the business should not become an auto parts and wrecking yard, council asked Maggie Pearson, owner of Metro Centre, how she had heard about the Niverville Business Park and why they became interested in moving out of Winnipeg.
“We wanted out of Winnipeg for tax reasons, and it’s just too far. We live in St. Pierre and drive past the Niverville turnoff all the time,” said Pearson. “We’ve been looking for space for over two years and then we sold our business quickly. We thought Steinbach was also too far, and in speaking with Clare Braun we learned about Niverville… how the town conducts business comes highly recommended.”
Council discussed parking and signage to ensure Metro Centre is prepared to follow town regulations before recommending to approve the business permit. The vote was carried unanimously.
Hespeler Park Lighting
Other business included approving a project scope change to add an electrical panel at the centre of the four baseball diamonds in Hespeler Park to facilitate the ongoing project to install new lighting there. The electricity source will help provide power to the batting cages for any ball-pitching machines used during practices.