Steinbach City Council has given first and second reading to a bylaw that will create a public reserve and widen a section of Bushfarm Road.

Councillor Michael Zwaagstra moved to give the bylaw first reading. He notes these changes are being done specifically to accommodate the growing Parkhill Development.

This rendering shows the area set aside for widening Bushfarm and the area set aside for public reserve"Widening Bushfarm Road allows for the installation of major utilities along the right of way and then, of course, the public reserve, creating that allows for the construction of stormwater storage ponds for the Parkhill residential development and so again, this is a part of planning to make sure that as neighbourhoods develop, we have the infrastructure in place for that to be able to go ahead."

The long stretch of public reserve land will be directly east of Bushfarm Road. Both the public reserve and road widening will start at McKenzie Boulevard and extend half a mile to the north.

Zwaagstra says this is all fairly standard procedure for the city.

"When we have new neighbourhoods growing and expanding as part of our planning process, we need to make sure that we have everything set up so that way drainage happens properly and that we have the adequate space for any utilities that need to go in to service the area."

At this point in time, Zwaagstra says he isn’t sure when the utilities themselves will be installed on Bushfarm Road, but this will create the necessary space to do the work in the future.

The bylaw was given first and second reading at City Council’s Tuesday meeting with unanimous support from council.