The Rural Municipality of Tache continues to work with developers in bringing more housing opportunities west of Lorette.

Mayor Justin Bohemier says there is a 48 residential lot subdivision in the works, for an area near Grande Pointe, along Poirier Road. According to Bohemier, plans for this new subdivision first came to light in 2019.

Bohemier says the land is located in an agricultural area, with the Seine River flowing nearby. He notes immediately, one of the biggest stumbling blocks they felt they needed to overcome, was having the land rezoned. However, Bohemier says detailed history of the subdivision application shows that property, within Tache's development plan, has been designated for rural residential development since 1990.

"One of the biggest hurdles was definitely trying to get agricultural land zoned differently, and this was already done a long time ago," he notes. "So one of the hurdles was gone for that parcel of land."

In January of 2020, the municipality scheduled a public hearing. There were 246 notices sent out and 27 residents attended the public hearing on January 21st. According to the municipality, there were 19 people who spoke on the matter with majority of the concerns having to do with potential flooding, additional traffic and dust control. Council heard the concerns brought forward at the public hearing and required that the developer obtain a hydraulic analysis and a traffic impact study as a condition of approval.

According to Bohemier, the concern is that the development of this land will push flood waters onto neighbouring properties.

"That is definitely a concern," he says.

And, Bohemier notes the spring of 2022 has certainly helped give a better understanding of what exactly happens to flood waters there. He says drone footage shows just what the water is doing and Tache is making sure the developer's engineers are aware of this.

Bohemier says they need to find a solution that works for everyone, especially neighouring homes in the area.

"We definitely don't want to build something to sacrifice other properties," he says. "That is the last thing the RM wants to do."

Bohemier admits that after seeing what happened to the water this spring it gave him a better understanding. He notes definitely there is room for improvement to drainage in the area. Part of this process includes speaking with their neighbours in Ritchot about finding ways to channel water to the floodway in a more efficient manner.

"The RM is definitely working hard with everybody on this one," he says. "And we definitely want to see something good happen."

In April of 2020, Tache Council passed a resolution, approving the subdivision, subject to conditions including hydraulic analysis and a traffic study. Then, in December of the same year, Council passed a resolution approving the hydraulic study and traffic impact study with the understanding that the province would be doing a more indepth review of the impacts on drainage and flooding.

"We've gone through a lot of the hoops, a lot of these were hinged on how the hydrology reports were looking," shares Bohemier. "So we approved with conditions and if those conditions were met then it meant that we were okay with the process."

Here we are, more than two and a half years since the subdivision report was first received by Tache. Bohemier says the developers are making sure that all concerns are addressed before getting the green light to put shovel in the ground.