The town of Sackville has plans afoot to exchange land with a local landowner that could open up the possibility for a pedestrian connection between Moffat Lane and Fawcett Avenue.
CAO Jamie Burke told councillors at their Monday special meeting, that over the past few months the town has been working with the DeVarennes family on a possible land trade.
“In our discussions with Mr. Devarennes, he has agreed to provide the town with a four meter wide pedestrian connection, which would be done along the eastern boundary of his property,” said Burke on Monday. “And there is no financial compensation here, but what we would be looking to do is, we would take the four meter wide strip on the Devarennes property, and in return, we would give that same amount of square footage back to the Devarennes family off of our land for public purposes on Samantha Court. So it’s just a straight up land exchange.”
Burke explained that land on Samantha Court was taken by the town in 2005 as land for public purposes, with the intent to establish a connection to Fawcett Avenue. Land for public purposes on Fawcett Avenue had been set aside in 1995 as part of that subdivision plan.
“And you may recall, we discussed the land for public purposes on Samantha Court in 2019, where we disposed of a small portion of that law to neighbouring property owners,” explained Burke. “And that kind of facilitated the conversation with with Mr. Devarennes.”
Burke said a motion would come to council at its next meeting on Monday November 9, 2020 to “request the views of the planning review and adjustment committee at the Southeast Regional Service Commission,” regarding the land trade.
If it goes through the commission, the actual deal would come back to town council for approval before it happens.
And although this deal will secure the land for a pedestrian connection, it doesn’t mean it will get built anytime soon, says Burke.
“Constructing that pedestrian connection is not something we would be looking to do tomorrow,” he told council on Monday. “We’d be looking to do that when our budget permits, but at least it would put us in a position to own the property to allow us to carry it out at some point in the future. “
