Responses needed for draft regional plan

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This article was published 16/04/2021 (1735 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Organizers of a draft 30-year regional plan affecting the Winnipeg metropolitan region are looking for feedback from the public before a final document is created.

The draft of Plan20-50 outlines land use, servicing and development planning in Winnipeg, Headingley, Cartier, St. Francois Xavier, Macdonald, Rosser, West St. Paul, East St. Paul and 10 other municipalities. 

The Winnipeg Metropolitan Region — the entity that prepared the plan — has the 135-page document on its website for viewing. All responses regarding Plan20-50 will be compiled into a report and sent to Municipal Relations Minister Derek Johnson along with the draft plan.

People can submit feedback on the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region’s website until Tue., June 1.

The plan is broken into policy areas covering integrated communities and infrastructure, employment, the environment, resource management and intergovernmental collaboration. It’s meant to support the economy and attract new opportunities, according to an April 9 Winnipeg Metropolitan Region news release.

The plan proposes developing in existing built-up areas.

Its focuses include regional transportation, shared services such as water and wastewater, ensuring there’s a variety of housing types and price points, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, protecting agriculture lands and watersheds, and data sharing across the region, among others.

Municipalities must comply with the policies in the finalized product when they plan for the future, once the province adopts a regional plan.

However, municipal governments will still be autonomous and have the ability to plan for their jurisdictions, according to Colleen Sklar, executive director of the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region.

“What happens at the community level still happens at the community level,” Sklar said. “A regional plan does not take away the need to plan locally, it just makes sure that communities can align their effort to get the best possible outcomes for their growing and changing communities as they undertake their unique and important local development planning process.”

Councils are now reviewing the draft plan and preparing to comment. The rural municipalities of Cartier and St. Francois Xavier have hired consultants to determine what the plan could mean for their futures. Headingley had the same idea.

“Council is engaged with our staff, planners and legal team to make sure we fully understand the implications of the plan,” Headingley mayor John Mauseth wrote in an email.

In March, both St. Francois Xavier and Headingley noted concerns around losing control of density planning, but they said they needed to see the full draft before drawing conclusions.

The Rural Municipality of Rosser will discuss the draft at a council meeting on Tue., April 27, according to Reeve Frances Smee. The Rural Municipality of Macdonald was slated to discuss the topic on April 15, according to Reeve Brad Erb.

This will be Manitoba’s first regional plan. In 2019, the province mandated the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region to develop a draft. It has consulted with over 500 stakeholders and spent over 1,000 hours in interviews over the past 18 months, according to Sklar.

Edmonton and Vancouver are among those who have created regional plans.

The province must appoint a capital regional planning board to review the draft Plan20-50 and collected responses from the public, as laid out in Bill 37. The board will finalize the regional plan, which the municipal relations minister must approve. There isn’t a timeline for the process yet.

People can read the draft and submit feedback at 20to50.ca