Hay River (Jan 17/05) - Two companies want the same piece of land for a proposed pipe-coating facility in Hay River, so town council has come up with a way to decide who gets it.

At a Jan. 4 meeting, council discussed giving first option on the land to whoever gets Esso's pipe-coating contract for the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

Recent agreement

Both the Deh Cho Pipe Company and Shaw Pipe Protection Ltd. have applied for the same 114 acres near the Highway 2 turn-off to Fort Smith.

The land in question is part of a recent agreement between Hay River and the GNWT to turn more development land over to the town.

A motion to apply to the GNWT for the land, survey it and re-zone it from residential to industrial will be voted on at the next regular meeting of council.

The process, which will take six to eight months, should begin by April 1.

Assistant deputy mayor Vern Tordoff wondered if the town obtaining the land is a bit of a gamble, since no one knows if the pipeline will go ahead.

"I think we're jumping the gun on this," Tordoff said.

However, Coun. Ron Cook said "I think the sooner we get moving on this, the better we are."

Council still has to decide whether it would rent, lease or sell the land.