LAC LA BICHE - For those waiting to see the name before believing Lac La Biche will actually get a "Timmies" - the wait is over.
Although the store is not yet open, workers who have been constructing the restaurant franchise on property along 91 Avenue for the last year unveiled the "Tim Horton's name and logo on Wednesday night.
The process to get the franchise name into the community has been a long journey, fuelling social media and ironically, coffee shop discussions, for a decade.
The Lac La Biche franchise location is the latest in a roster of approximately 3,600 locations across Canada. According to the Corporate site, Ontario leads the way with more than 1,800 locations. The new Lac La Biche location will be one of about 400 in Alberta.
The opening date of the Lac La Biche location has not yet been shared.
Commercial hopes
The area where the location is housed is the focus of a current design planning project for Lac La Biche County officials, who are hoping to open up the area — which is a main artery to the Bold Centre recreation complex and an adjoining high school — to more housing and commercial ventures.
Planners have been in the community for the last week, taking suggestions and offering ideas for the area along 91 Avenue and near the Bold Center complex. A large parcel of municipal-owned land was recently prepared for future development. Following a $2 million construction to prepare the land for development, municipal officials recently began the process to rezone the property for commercial use.
Councillors gave the first readings to a new zoning bylaw on Tuesday. The new zoning would change a one acre portion of the 12-acre piece of land that 'horseshoes' an existing residential subdivision south of the Venture Industrial Park from a low-density housing designation to an arterial commercial district. The one-acre parcel is located where the current Bold Centre digital screen is situated.
According to municipal planners,rezoning of the parcel to the commercial designation would allow for commercial development to occur on the proposed parcel. Over the last year, elected officials and municipal staff have been negotiating the sale of the one-acre piece of land to a possible investor. Early conversations hinted it was for another fast-food type food franchise.
Part of those discussions have included plans to create an access road to the parcel, likely from Beaver Hill Road. According to the most recent Lac La Biche County’s Municipal Development Plan and the current East Area Structure Plan, the property is listed as future commercial land.
More development
The new Tim Horton's and the proposed commercial expansion along 91 Avenue follows the construction several years ago of a fuel station, liquor store and restaurant on property in the same area. In recent years, the intersection at Beaver Hill Road and 91 Avenue, adjacent to the new developments has received more than two million dollars in upgrades, including new traffic lights, turn lanes and power line relocation.
According to designers looking at future plans for the area, the 91 Avenue roadway is expected to be widened and likely twinned in the coming years.
Along with the Bold Center and the high school that is attached to the complex, plans are currently underway for the construction of at least one more new school in the area, and the plans for the $45 million new aquatic centre at the Bold Centre are also ongoing.
