(Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Official Community Plan

City of Melfort moving to public consultation portion of Official Community Plan process

Apr 18, 2019 | 2:13 PM

For the first time this century, the City of Melfort is going through the process of putting together a new Official Community Plan.

Representatives from Crosby Hanna and Associates were at City Hall on Monday, April 15 for a committee of the whole meeting to present the draft of the Official Community Plan. Manager of Community Planning with Crosby Hanna, Leanne DeLong said they are tasked with helping the city put together a framework of how the city should look in the future, and how to get it there.

“We gather all that information and put it together into a series of policies that assist council in their developmental decisions,” DeLong said.

They presented a PowerPoint to council, and a big portion of the plan is based on Melfort’s average annual growth of 1.4 per cent. City Manager Ryan Danberg said it’s nice to be able to see Melfort grow year over year and get a community plan that builds off that.

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“Growth is always a good thing in any community,” Danberg told northeastNOW. “We’re going to continue to do what we can to promote that.”

Danberg said part of the city’s growth can be credited to the Spruce Haven area, as well as the McDonald’s that is coming soon in the Stonegate area, and he’s hoping that draws more business to the area.

Danberg added the plan gives councillors and administration a vision for the future. It is a learning process, he said.

“Lots of good information,” Danberg said. “But really lots of information as it pertains to bylaws and land development with our city and where we are heading with it. So, it’s been a very interesting process for me.”

The last time the city went through this process was between 1996 and 1998, leading Danberg to say their public consultation portion of the planning is very important.

“They’ll have display boards up of some of the highlighted changes that are being put forward,” he said. “This is your chance to come and speak to these changes and really be engaged in them. This isn’t something that we can just go forward with as council and administration; we really need input from the people to make sure we’re making the proper changes.”

The open house is set to take place on Monday, April 29 at city hall.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6