Regina City Council approved a proposal to develop a new Costco Wholesale in East Regina on Monday night. The new store will replace the existing Costco on University Park Drive.
Representatives for the store say the future Costco will be bigger than the existing one, have more parking spaces and a large gas station. This new store will be a part of the Aurora Subdivision in East Regina. Representatives of the store said this Costco will better accommodate people in and around Regina.
"Costco is regional use,” said Jeff Ishida, Vice President of real estate for Costco Wholesale. “We find that because people buy their memberships, they know where we are, they're going to come from quite a far distance to shop at Costco and our draw is rather large."
Councillor Sharron Bryce asked representatives if there are any plans for a Costco in North East Regina. Costco said maybe in the future but not right now.
Council also approved a new medical clinic and pharmacy at 6210 and 6212 Dewdney Avenue.
The proposal put forward for the Class Trip program has been put aside to allow administration and the school board to gather more information. The program would see free transit services for teachers, students and chaperones travelling for class trips.
The Regina Airport Authority was also at council Monday to ask for their previous tax exemption to be reinstated. Council denied their proposal.
With the loss of the tax exemptions, the airport will be paying an additional $300,000 to the city each year, along with their current tax bill of $1.2 million.
The airport said this added cost will cause them to most likely raise the cost of seats on flights by $0.75. The airport said this move will also make the Regina airport less desirable to their carriers.
"Our property taxation will be approximately $500,000 higher than the city of Saskatoon,” said Derrick Thue the Vice President of Administration for the Regina Airport Authority. “That definitely puts us at a major disadvantage, especially when we are out talking to the carriers and they are looking at our city and our region, we're sending the wrong signal to the carriers."
