Province Denies Hanover Request

The Rural Municipality of Hanover has been informed that expanding boundaries in the Local Urban Districts of Mitchell and Blumenort is premature.

Chief Administrative Officer Luc Lahaie says it was probably seven years ago that the municipality first looked into expanding those boundaries. But he says it was only formalized in 2012.

"Seeing that development was going pretty quickly around Mitchell and Blumenort, the committees of those two communities were hoping they could be proactive in getting these boundaries expanded before development would come along," explains Lahaie.

The hope was to grow the LUD of Mitchell by 528 acres and the LUD of Blumenort by 330 acres.

Hanover has now been told by the Department of Indigenous and Municipal Relations that the requests are not being approved at this time. Department officials have determined that majority of the properties proposed for inclusion in these two LUD's are agricultural and have not yet been developed for residential or commercial use. According to Assistant Deputy Minister Laurie Davidson, properties should be brought into an LUD once they are developed and require the urban type services that are provided to an LUD. Davidson suggests that properties being used primarily for agricultural purposes should remain in the rural area and continue to pay the rural area levy until they are developed.

"Usually agricultural producers would like their taxes to go to the rural to pay for drainage and rural roads," acknowledges Lahaie.

He notes once land is developed into an urban community, those taxes would go towards the LUD to help build streets, put up lights and handle urban services.

"It's not a disappointment," says Lahaie. "It's just we did work very hard in making a case to have these areas expanded."

However, he says it is only a matter of time. The province has indicated that once these areas are developed, they can be included within the LUD boundaries. For example, he says there are plans for a modular home park north of Mitchell. Lahaie is hopeful that can take shape in 2018 and be considered within the LUD of Mitchell for the following taxation year.