The Netook Crossing Business Park near the intersection of highways 27 and 2 west of Olds has been open for business for roughly five years.
But to date, only nine of 31 lots available for sale in the 65-hectare development have been sold and one of the park's developers is pessimistic business will pick up any time soon.
“Sales and lot enquiries are relatively slow,” said Terrence Johnson, a senior development advisor at Prodev Limited, which owns the park. “We're not experiencing a lot of activity. There's a couple of new deals in the pipeline but they won't be confirmed for a little while.”
So far, three lots owners—Olds RV, Westview Co-operative Cardlock Fuel and Olds Mountain View Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram— have built facilities on their lots and Netook Construction intends to construct its new headquarters on its recently purchased lot later this year.
And Johnston said one other owner, who he declined to identify due to privacy concerns, is looking at building on a lot as well.
As for the other four owners, however, Johnston said he believes they are “attempting to resell their lots.”
He added a major challenge to development within the park and finding new businesses that may want to buy property there is the continued reluctance of Mountain View County to provide services such as water and sewers to the area.
“All the uncertainty in the county and controversy over water and zoning and municipal development lands have not helped our situation at all,” Johnston said. “Notwithstanding, we have a fully installed sewage system and water distribution system and sewage collection system in our development and it doesn't connect to anything.”
Without water coming into the park, Johnston said, it doesn't matter that the developers have installed pipes and fire hydrants, or that businesses already operating in the park have tapped underground wells.
“Which is adequate (for some water needs), but it doesn't provide them with the full fire protection that they need.”
Ultimately, Johnston wants the county to “come up with some solution” for this problem and he said “a lot of work has to be done” between the developers and county— and possibly the Town of Olds— to reach an agreement on service provision to the park.
“It's going to be a long, slow process in my opinion before everybody comes to an agreement as to how this might occur.”
David Doyle is the general manager of Netook Construction, which purchased its two-hectare lot in the park in December.
His company intends to move its operations from its current home base on a family farm lot northwest of Olds to a new office space and a maintenance shop and storage facility at the park.
Right now, the company is applying for a building permit and construction could begin this summer, with a tentative move-in planned for November.
Having no water or sewage services at the company's site in the park is “a concern,” however, and will increase costs during the building process, Doyle said.
So the company intends to add features in the new facility such as water recycling technology in its wash bays and underground storage tanks to hold water collected on the building's roof.
These plans, Doyle said, will reduce the amount of well water used on the lot.
“I guess in a way it's positive in that it's eco-friendly but there's definitely an expense attached to that as well,” he said.
Doyle, who also serves as chair of the county's economic development committee, said he doesn't believe the county will provide water and sewer to the development unless the developer covers the costs of bringing those services to the park.
He admitted, however, that the situation is a “catch-22” since the developer can't pay for such services until lots at the park start selling and businesses and individuals are reluctant to purchase lots without services such as water and sewage.
Dan Wiebe, owner of Olds Mountain View Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, which officially opened the doors at its new 3,000-square-metre location at the park on May 27, said a major problem for his dealership is having no Internet access at the park.
“Our dealership and our business really depends on Internet for uploading and downloading programs onto vehicles,” he said, adding technicians also use the web for repair work. “So much of our vehicle repairs are now done by diagnosing through our computers.”
The dealership overcame this challenge, he added, by subscribing to CCI Wireless, a company providing broadband high speed Internet service for rural communities in Alberta, and the results have been good so far.
Without water or sewage services, Wiebe said, the dealership was also faced with the challenge of meeting fire code regulations and was forced to install two 38,000-litre water tanks in its maintenance shop for the facility's sprinkler system.
He added the dealership has a healthy supply of good-quality water from a well producing 75 litres per minute and sewage is currently being trucked away.
“That's certainly an expensive way to get rid of sewage but unfortunately that's what we've got right now and that's what we'll live with until some of those other details get worked out,” Wiebe said.
Although development in the park is currently moving at a slow pace,
Wiebe said he is not concerned for the future of his business.
“All you need is a few leaders and there's going to be more people that are going to be following.”
