The City of Saskatoon’s Finance Committee is recommending council approve a 9-million dollar land purchase.

The 551 acre plot in the RM of Corman Park well beyond the proposed Saskatoon Freeway is earmarked for development when the Saskatoon region gets to a population of 700-thousand.

An administration report for the committee also states it will remain farmland for the foreseeable future and calls the location favorably unique expecting strong market demand for future development.

The parcel which meets up against a portion of the Northeast Swale outside city limits is also next to another section of land owned by the city which also sits beyond the municipal boundary.

The city has pre-purchased land in the past.

The properties developed in the Willowgrove and Evergreen neighbourhoods were bought in the mid-1970’s while deals on the Kensington and Hampton Village developments were closed in the 1960’s and 1970’s.