Amendments made to Municipal Development Plan

Times Reporter

 

The council chambers quickly filled on the afternoon of May 17 as county residents attended a public hearing to find out how the changes to the Municipal Development Plan, MDP, may affect them. Ten new policies are to be added to the MDP, which garnered much discussion from the public. Residents were promised that everything would be looked at fairly to see what could be done once the new policies are accepted. Councillor Bernice Bland said the county wasn’t trying to cause grief, but were trying to find a balance between farmers and acreage owners in regards to the recommended policy, which would allow a maximum of four parcels per quarter section in rural subdivisions. 

Much of the wording in the 10 proposed policies have been amended to make it more flexible. The MDP was given second reading, with the amendments and will be brought back to council for third and final reading at a later date. In June councillors will spend three days trying to get through as many, if not all, of the 75 development applications that had been put on hold for the Growth Management Study. 

Office Modernization Project

The estimate for upgrading and modernizing the county offices has gone up 60 per cent from the original estimate in just a few months. Councillor Don VanderVelde suggested revisiting the idea, stating the main offices are where the work needs to be done, more so than in the council chambers. A motion was made to delay moving forward with the modernization until more information could be found about the price increase. The roof repairs and other imperative maintenance will still continue. 

Rockyford road project 

Tenders have been received for the construction to be done on the Rockyford Road Project. Wheatland County Council approved the Central City’s tender in the amount of just over $6.7 million, only $44,000 over the estimated budget. A majority of the project will be completed later in the summer.