The mayor of a small New Brunswick village says the community has been inundated with calls and emails after it offered to sell plots of land for less than the price of a cup of coffee.

Ken Stannix said McAdam, N.B. 鈥� population 1,225 鈥� has seen a small population boost in recent years, but he hopes that selling empty plots of land for $1 each will further bolster the numbers.

The town announced in November that it would offer the deal on 16 plots of land, and since then, more than 600 interested buyers have contacted them from across the country, and even from faraway places like India and Pakistan.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 really anticipate that,鈥� said Stannix. 鈥漌e thought there would be some interest in it and we would probably attract some, but we weren鈥檛 ready for the 600-plus people who called and sent emails.鈥�

McAdam, about an hour鈥檚 drive southwest of Fredericton, has three major draws, he said: industry, tourism and retirement. It鈥檚 home to two manufacturing plants, a historic railway station that attracts thousands of visitors each year, a lakeside campground, local businesses and services for seniors.

The idea to sell the plots of land has been in the works for about two years. The town formed a community action group to address the village鈥檚 population, which had been in decline for decades following the collapse of their rail industry.

Since then, the village has sold 62 houses, heralding in a modest population bump and increased interest in McAdam.

鈥淪uddenly, we had people coming to us and saying, 鈥業s there any land available? We鈥檇 like to build, but we can鈥檛 find any lots,鈥欌�� said Stannix.

He said the town approached the provincial government and offered to buy the 16 plots of land, which range in size from 665 to 1,086 square metres.

While each plot is valued between $5,000 and $7,500, Stannix said the village paid 鈥渟ubstantially less鈥� for the land, with the province鈥檚 understanding that they had a plan to increase the community鈥檚 population.

He said the pool of applicants has been narrowed down to 86 people 鈥� 11 of whom have already been selected as suitable buyers, mostly comprising of young retirees and families.

Stannix said the close-knit town is focused on choosing buyers who would like to build houses and spend their lives in the village instead of developers looking to build properties and sell them.

鈥淲e had people that called and said, 鈥業 want to take all 16 lots and I鈥檒l build houses on them,鈥� and that really wasn鈥檛 what we were looking for,鈥� he said.

鈥淲hat we wanted to do is have people take a look at the village: know where they were buying the lots, where they were planning to move, because their success is our success.鈥�

Because of the high demand, he said applications have closed.

This isn鈥檛 the first time a town has drastically reduced the cost of land to attract new residents. In 2017, the small town of Smooth Rock Falls, Ont., offered to reimburse 90 per cent of the cost of the land if people built on it within two years 鈥� reducing the land cost to as little as $500 in some cases.

As of November, 24 new families chose to buy pre-existing homes in the community after learning about the offer.

Stannix said the ultimate goal is to increase McAdam鈥檚 population by at least a thousand.

鈥淏ack in the heyday of McAdam, when it was a railroad town, and we had lots of people working with the railroad here, we probably had a population of about 2,700 to about 3,000,鈥� he said. 鈥滱nd many people here thought that that population size was the goal to shoot for.鈥�

He said he鈥檚 reached out to companies to set up shop in the community to increase services for their new residents.

The land promotion is also attracting interest in the sale of pre-existing homes, said Stannix. As an example, he pointed to a conversation he had with a retirement-age man in Ontario who was initially interested buying a plot of land, but instead considered selling his million-dollar home, buying a house in the village, and retiring on what he could sell his house for.

鈥淗e said, 鈥業 think, if you don鈥檛 mind, I鈥檒l just buy a house there,鈥� and I said, 鈥渙h my heavens, I don鈥檛 mind if you buy a house! We鈥檙e just happy to have you come down,鈥欌�� said Stannix.

鈥淭he biggest thing is these people that come, they have energy and they have ideas. And that helps the community grow.鈥�

Alex Cooke, The Canadian Press

Like us on and follow us on .