JULIE BERTRAND/Independent reporter
Town of Stettler council has voted to offer to sell a 74 sq. m strip of parkland to residents Mike Lhor and Kalena Rowland.
Should they want to buy the strip of parkland, they will have to pay $5,329.48 plus $3,435 for the associated costs, which include subdivision, park disposal, rezoning and title transfer, for a grand total of $8,764.48.
Lhor and Rowland own the property south of the Viking ship playground, which is in East Stettler. They were unaware of how close the property line was to their house, until the town surveyed the playground lot.
“When the new playground was put in, they realized that there would be more traffic there,” said Rob Stoutenberg, town CAO.
“The property owners expressed some concern about having privacy in their backyard.”
In an effort to please Lhor and Rowland, the Stettler Kinsmen and Parks and Leisure services agreed to put a six-foot fence with privacy slats past their back yard.
The town was also considering moving the fence one metre north to save trees.
“If we put the fence right on property line, we would have to take down quite a few trees,” said Stoutenberg.
The alley fence will also be moved one meter to provide more room for residents turning into their garages.
“Then, later on, when the Kinsmen started looking at the fencing, there was a phone call to me from the owners saying they were interested in purchasing the land and possibly purchasing more than just the one metre that we were going to move the fence to the north,” said Stoutenberg
Town of Stettler is hesitant to sell a strip of land more than one metre wide, as selling parkland in this location will reduce the square feet of park space, limiting the ability to expand and adapt to the future of the East End Play Park.