Roxanne Ryland photo
The land around the area of the old access road to Deer Lake Airport will be the site of the development, and it is beginning with the current request for proposals for the access road. The overall project is expected to take place through three or four phases, according to Mayor Dean Ball, and its timeline will depend on the interest and sale of land.
The mayor says the demand is great, but would not divulge any details of the companies the town has been in discussions with. He suspects the town would have seen increased activity in recent years, if there was any room for expansion within its current industrial park.
“Only the customer will determine the timeframe,” he said. “... We are anticipating healthy sales there and not anticipating this will be dragged out a long, long time.”
The town is also about a year behind on the expansion, Ball said, that it had taken longer than hoped to acquire the Crown land from the province.
With that behind them now, it is an exciting time for the town, according to its mayor.
“This is the future of our community,” he said.
According to plans released publicly in 2014, the park, which would be located just across the highway from Deer Lake Regional Airport, includes two development areas. Under the proposal presented by Atlantic Engineering, there would be 23 lots made available in one area for medium/heavy industrial developments and nine more in an adjacent area for commercial/light industrial enterprises.
The areas would be accessible from the existing industrial park area on Wellon Drive and from the Trans-Canada Highway near the airport exit.
The proposals for the construction of the new 10 metre wide by 400 metre long access road in the vicinity of Glide Brook and Airport Road extension is due Friday.
