The Town of Shaunavon recently came into some funding to help take down an abandoned building in the area causing some hazards.

A total of $36,800 from the Ministry of Environment as the first ever Impacted Sites Fund will be used to identify the extent of contamination and the cleanup of the building.  

Mayor Kyle Bennett said the property’s previous owners had moved away and stopped paying taxes, allowing the town to take it over through tax enforcement.  

“It's an old building, it’s sat empty for quite a few years – I don’t even know when it was last occupied,” he explained. "The roof started collapsing, [and it was a] safety hazard. It was a very large building, and it was unstable, and we didn't want to see people getting hurt. 

“It was quite a bit of money to clean it up, you know, and then as we were cleaning it up, our contractor noticed some hydrocarbon in the soil, and we weren't ready to spend a whole bunch more money cleaning that up. That's why we're excited to be able to work with the province and get some grant funding to help clean this place up properly.”

The first phase is historical research, looking for potential contamination. If found, phase two is to take core samples and identify the extent, to make a plan for moving forward. The third and final phase is the clean-up.  

“We're honored to work with ministry,” Bennett added. “We're happy that they're able to help us out with this. And without their help, I don't know if we'd be able to clean it up properly. So, with their help we can hopefully get this thing cleaned up properly and get this land back into productive state.”