Steinbach’s friendly annexation a done deal

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This article was published 15/07/2017 (3163 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of Manitoba’s largest annexations in recent history can be put down to goodwill, foresight and some good old-fashioned horse trading, the two parties involved say.

The Municipal Board this week approved the friendly annexation of 2,800 acres — a little more than 11 square kilometres — by the City of Steinbach from the RM of Hanover.

The annexation is to allow Steinbach to continue its growth trajectory of 3.5 per cent to four per cent annually for the next 30 years.

It isn’t the 7,300 acres the municipalities originally negotiated — to support Steinbach’s 50-year growth projection — but it’s still a transaction of historic proportions and on a scale other cities, such as Winnipeg, can only drool over.

The agreement is a result of the increasing co-operation between Steinbach, Manitoba’s third-largest city, and the rural municipality that surrounds it. For example, Steinbach provides Hanover with fire and landfill services, and they share an emergency co-ordinator.

As well, Hanover Reeve Stan Toews has been around long enough to remember “a lot of ill feelings” between the municipalities’ stymied progress in the past.

“Often, councils think they just have to protect their own turf. I’m a firm believer you have to think outside your borders, as well,” he said.

For example, helping Steinbach grow means not only more consumer choices for Hanover residents but more jobs close to home so families don’t have to move to Winnipeg. (Hanover is one of Manitoba’s largest rural municipalities, with a population of more than 16,000.)

“If one entity grows, it helps everyone,” Toews said. “And if Hanover grows, it helps Steinbach because now there are more people to shop there.”

In return for the land, Hanover will receive a payment of more than $400,000 over eight years from Steinbach — essentially Hanover’s tax revenue loss from residents who will become part of Steinbach. Steinbach will also assume responsibility for maintenance of border roads that was previously cost-shared.

The big benefit to Hanover is Steinbach will no longer block commercial development on corridors leading into the city.

It currently holds a 2.4-km buffer on Highways 52 and 12. Hanover will now be able to zone commercially Highway 52 from Mitchell to Steinbach, and Highway 12 from Blumenort to Steinbach. Hanover officials see buffer zones as great opportunities for commercial development.

“Friendly annexations are hard to come by,” said Steinbach Mayor Chris Goertzen. “Over the last decade, both councils decided we’re better off working together than separately.”

Goertzen was disappointed in January when the Municipal Board ruled against its agreement with Hanover for an annexation of 7,300 acres. The provincial board pointed to complaints from farm owners in the annexed zone, and summarized by calling the annexation “overly ambitious.”

Steinbach currently is 6,300 acres in size.

“City council is certainly pleased. A lot of hard work has gone into this deal,” Goertzen said of the new deal.

Indigenous and Municipal Relations Minister Eileen Clarke must still approve the ruling, but ministers rarely go against the Municipal Board.

Steinbach still has within its borders 1,600 acres available to develop, the equivalent of 15 years of population growth. The additional 2,800 acres will add another 15 years.

A consultant’s report last year projected Steinbach’s population could top 100,000 within 50 years.

Its population in the 2016 Census was 15,829.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca