Niverville annexation passes next hurdle

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/09/2016 (2771 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Niverville council has given second reading to two bylaws that would see 340 acres of land annexed from RM of Hanover.

Council held a public hearing on the matter Tuesday evening during which they received several recommendations from the province on the project.

Stephen Walker, a regional manager with the province, told council after circulating the bylaw among the provincial departments, the province concluded it doesn’t have a problem with the project, but outlines a few recommendations, mainly from the Manitoba Infrastructure department.

“If the province is making recommendations to council, council wants to make sure they do their due diligence. We will have it on our agenda, so we can have deliberation on it,” said Mayor Myron Dyck.

One of the highway department recommendations outlines the need for a service road, so access to Provincial Road 311 would remain from 6th Avenue and the next mile road.

“The province—and council is well aware of this—they’re looking to not have further impact on provincial highways by having more accesses for incoming traffic,” said Dyck. “They’re trying to ensure the port of entries onto provincial highways [remain] and there aren’t additional ones added.”

Council received the recommendations in a report from the province.

During the meeting, CAO Jim Buys said council can’t give third reading to the development bylaw until after the official annexation date on Jan. 1, 2017. Zoning bylaw changes will follow the development bylaw’s approval.

Last December, Niverville council sent a revised proposal to the province’s municipal board after it told council to scale back the amount of land being annexed. Council originally proposed 1,100 acres be annexed, but a provincial report outlined several concerns, particularly the loss of agriculture land.