The City of Lloydminster has received an application for a development permit intended for a casino in the city limits.
According to Terry Burton, the Director of Planning and Development for the municipal government, the application was made on May 10, 2016. The permit, which has not yet been approved, would allow the applicant to bring forward more development proposals for the land in question, which is located near the Microtel Inn and Suites and the Lloydminster and District Co-op Gas Bar in the east end of the city.
Burton said the application was made by the Border Tribal Council. He also said he did not know the partners associated with the application.
The leaders of both Little Pine First Nation and Onion Lake Cree Nation have indicated their involvement with the project in previous public statements. The Saskatchewan government has also given conditional approval for a casino to be set up in Lloydminster.
A notice of the permit application was previously circulated by the City in public notices included in newspapers, with a period allowing for the public to send in their opinions about the application to the municipal government. The timeframe for that period expires on Friday.
Burton said the process after Friday will involve compiling all feedback received, and putting everything together into an administration report, which will be brought forward to council.
“They (applications) come in, we advertise them in the papers, we get the concerns, we answer the concerns,” said Burton.
“Typically, we don’t get many concerns, but if we do, we answer those concerns back to those applicants, or those people who brought those forward, and as such we also compile those up, and create an agenda report, and move it forward into council’s hands for background information associated with any decision they need to make.”
As the application is for discretionary use of the land, it will be up to City Council to decide whether or not to approve the permit.
“A gas bar has been started there, and that has been an application that has been brought forward late last year, and as such that was a permitted use,” said Burton.
“It didn’t have to go through council’s hands at that time. This is a discretionary use, council is the subdivision authority for this side of things, and that is why it’s going back to council.”
A timeline for when the administration report will go before council is not yet available.
