Land annexation back on the map in Niverville

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This article was published 05/12/2022 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A proposed land annexation from the RM of Hanover would see 2,600 acres of land added to the growing Town of Niverville, an ask that was shot down by the province only seven years ago.

In 2015, the Manitoba Municipal Board told town officials to scale back the proposed amount of land to be annexed when the town was planning for its future. Niverville and the RM of Hanover agreed on 1,100 acres but settled on 340 acres when a provincial report cited several concerns, the loss of agricultural land in particular. The land was officially annexed in 2017.

Now, the town is growing faster than anticipated and, again, planning to annex more land.

“(The province) didn’t believe at the time that Niverville would continue to grow as it has, but we did,” said Mayor Myron Dyck.

Over the summer the Town commissioned a sustainable growth report which projected Niverville will be out of land in the next 15 to 20 years. Working with the RM of Hanover they agreed on roughly 50 parcels of land to be transferred.

For a rapidly-growing town, Dyck said they need the land to sustain themselves.

“We need it to grow as a community,” he said, adding the land could be used for residential, commercial, institutional and industrial purposes, though commercial growth is commonly seen along main arteries into towns like Highway 12 in Steinbach.

The annexation proposal would see parcels of occupied land along Provincial Road 311 to Highway 59 transferred from the RM of Hanover to the Town of Niverville. At the moment the lands under consideration are generally used for agricultural purposes.

Dyck said the land is the only option left for Niverville to expand to, as the land to the west of town limits is located on a floodplain. Land use would also remain in the hands of the landowner.

When asked what he’d like to see done with the land, Dyck said he doesn’t have a particular vision quite yet, but remaining stagnant is no option.

“There is no staying the same,” he said.

“You’re either moving forward or you’re moving backward, and if Niverville is to continue to move forward, we see now that land will be a potential restrictor for availability to do that.”

A series of open houses will be held for all affected landowners and those curious to learn more about the proposal. The Niverville Heritage Centre will host them on Dec. 8 and 13 from 5 – 8 p.m.

– with files from Adriana Mingo