The Estevan Chamber of Commerce resumed its monthly meetings last Wednesday and first up in the spotlight was the RM of Estevan's new Official Community Plan.
A document well over a year in the making, the OCP is essentially a map for the future of the RM as it lays out what areas will be developed for what purposes along with other important matters.
Tim Cheesman, who is the planning co-ordinator hired to create the OCP, was the featured speaker at the luncheon and gave those in attendance a rundown of the plan and what it will mean for the RM.
Cheesman said the RM has developed the plan in conjunction with the City of Estevan and noted the two bodies have an excellent working relationship, which is not a common occurrence in the province.
"The City and the RM have been working like a planning district and having joint committee meetings under your previous mayor and currently under Roy (Ludwig)," Cheesman said. "It's on an informal basis right now, but I think both parties would like to move towards formalizing that working relationship."
Cheesman noted it was roughly a year and a half ago when the process of reviewing the RM's old OCP and bylaws began. He said their focus was determining where growth should go and how could the RM best compliment the City.
According to the future land use map distributed at the meeting, the RM will concentrate its industrial and commercial land to the east and southeast of Estevan. There is also a smaller area to the west of the city, another along Highway 18 and a strip that runs along Highway 39 to the west of the intersection for the new heavy truck bypass. (Please see accompanying map for exact locations.)
"We want to show that we are open for business," Cheesman said. "More important, on the east side of the city and where the (heavy truck) bypass comes through, we want to be in lockstep with the City in developing the industrial lands that compliment each other."
Cheesman added the bypass has created some issues for both the RM and the City as it will limit the access to some of the land in the area, leading to uncertainty for future planning.
"It's a bit frustrating for both jurisdictions as to figure out how can we tell people what services can go there," he said. "One of the commitments we made as the City and RM to highways is that we won't create a term on any of the uses along the bypass at this point and time. That is why we have that area as more of a future study area.
"Our biggest frustration is the hurry up and wait aspect. The lands around there are critical to the future growth of our region and we want to make sure it is done right."
Cheesman said both the City and RM are also in agreement that any future residential growth in Estevan will be to the north and as such, they are leaving the area directly north as a future study area as well.
The RM has also created a zone for mixed use - country residential north of Estevan in the area beyond the truck bypass.
"The RM is no different than the City, they are realizing they have to have a more adaptive plan because the market is changing," Cheesman said.
He added part of their work also looked at the costs of developing land and how much of that should be paid by the RM and how much by individuals and businesses looking to develop land.
"In the development sector a lot of people think, wait a minute, we are being unfairly assessed. Then the rest of the residents and other people in business say you can't tax the existing people for future development."
