INNISFAIL – Town council is not showing any enthusiasm with a proposed incentive plan created to lure potential home buyers in the Napoleon Meadows subdivision.
The incentive plan created by the town’s “realty team” was presented by Meghan Jenkins, director of community services, at Innisfail town council’s Agenda & Priorities Meeting on Feb. 6.
Jenkins told council that 17 town-owned lots still remained unsold in the 42-lot Napoleon Meadows subdivision near the eastern side of Napoleon Lake.
They are currently listed with the Innisfail office of RE/MAX Real Estate Central Alberta.
Last month town council approved a one-year extension to a five-year realty agreement the town had with RE/MAX to sell the lots.
Jenkins told council there were several incentive ideas for potential buyers that were brought to her desk, including no property taxes for a year.
“This would likely be set up as a rebate as opposed to actually not paying property taxes for a year and would be specific to these lots and Napoleon Meadows,” Jenkins told council. “I know Penhold has a similar program that applies to any new house in the community for that first year, so we would have to be very clear on the communication if we were going to go that route.”
Jenkins told council other ideas included not charging GST on lot sales this year, a $10,000 price adjustment on lots sold in 2023 or 10 per cent of the lot price, and waiving development and building permit fees in 2023.
She added there was also the idea of a sod credit for new homes built this year, and even travel vouchers for buyers that purchase a lot from the town in 2023.
Following Jenkins presentation Mayor Jean Barclay said she was “concerned about incentivizing” the town’s prolonged attempt to sell the remaining Napoleon Meadows lots.
“I would be more interested in potentially RE/MAX maybe having some opportunities with builders that may be interested in building three or four spec houses. Maybe there's some way that we can work with them to make it easier to start with,” said Barclay. “I would be concerned about incentivizing this. I think we have a great community and there's lots of things that make this place very attractive to move to.”
Coun. Gavin Bates said he agreed with the mayor, adding it was his belief lot prices in the subdivision have already been reduced.
“If you take some of the things that we just talked about, even if you take two or three of them and they added up to $5,000, is that going to be much on a $550,000 to $600,000 house? To that extent I am not interested in doing a whole lot,” said Bates. “I mean, it’s real estate. If they get an offer, they can come to us.”
Barclay added to Bates' comments by saying there has been “some flexibility” in lot prices in the past.
“I think there's a lot that was sold last fall and a new build going in the spring, so I'm not overly concerned,” said Barclay. “I just think the last couple years has been so different. We don’t want to make any rash decisions.”
Council unanimously approved Jenkins’ report as information.
