County of Grande Prairie council has pushed staff to prepare a Request for Interest to help guide them in finding an operator for Five Mile Community Hall.
This came after a delegation from the Gursikh Missionary Society spoke to council on October 7th, and said the group was looking to lease the property.
Reeve Leanne Beaupre says councillors have continued their search for a suitable operator since they knew they would take control of the facility earlier this year.
“Since the AG society chose to turn the hall over to the county for the 2020 year there have been quite a few groups and individuals have been interested in renting it for different purposes, at this point, we haven’t accepted any of those rental agreements.”
In September, county administration held a workshop at the hall, where community groups and designers gathered to provide feedback for a proposed design for the site. The adjacent land will also play a big part in the future of the facility, as a parcel of land in the area has already been selected for a new school in the Peace Wapiti School Division.
Beaupre says the RFI will allow council to slow down the decision-making process, and to let them gauge if the proposals line up with the interests of the future home of the school.
“This gives us an opportunity for council to look at it, research and do a bit of due diligence to make sure an organization or individual that could lease the property would operate it in accordance to what the community itself and what council see’s happening around the area.”
No timeline has been provided as to when the Request for Information process will be complete.