theater performances; and several community parks and green spaces, all linked together under a verdant tree canopy that shades the Dead Horse Creek as it courses through the town. THE MORDEN BUSINESS COMMUNITY The Stephen Street Retail District in downtown Morden is populated mostly by boutique businesses, and over the past few years, the city has provided various incentive programs for its property owners, such as a façade program to enhance the area’s curb appeal, and a tax incentive program to help renovate owner-occupied commercial buildings. The Pembina Connection at the city’s east entrance is Morden’s newest commercial corridor, with several retail outlets already open for business and additional shovel-ready lots ready for development. In the southeastern part of the city lies the Morden Industrial Park, which is home to a number of manufacturing businesses, including Solventum, formerly 3M Health Care, Buhler Manufacturing (farm equipment), the Huron Window Corporation, the Décor Cabinet Company, Cross Country Manufacturing (truck trailers), Elias Woodwork & Manufacturing, and Drive Products (truck parts and accessories). In fact, the Industrial Park has been so successful that it has almost filled up its available lots. “Our industrial sector has been growing so fast over the last few years, that we ran out of vacant lots in our Industrial Park– over 30 acres of land sold in 3 years,” reports Jason Dyck, Morden’s Economic Development Officer. “So, we had to make a big decision as a city as to whether or not to invest in an expansion of the park. A year-and-a-half ago, council voted to acquire 142 acres of new industrial parkland, and we’re working to bring that to market within the next six months or so. That’s a really exciting opportunity to grow the employment sector in Morden with a focus on manufacturing.And we will be applying our property tax incentive to the new industrial businesses that want to get set up there.” SUPPLYING INDUSTRY WITH WORKERS There are a few good reasons why new businesses 4 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 11
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