A public hearing in La Broquerie was long and drawn out, primarily due to people wondering why Steinbach City Council has refused access to Hirschfeld Road for a new subdivision behind the Frantz Motor Inn.

As the La Broquerie Council Chamber started to fill up for a public hearing on opening a road in the new development south of Highway 52, it was expected that people would object to opening that road.

In the end, nobody was opposed to opening the road, rather they questioned the reason traffic would access the development directly from Highway 52 instead of Hirschfeld Road.

Municipal councillors and members of the public cited several times that the Hirschfeld access would be safer.

Alan Klippenstein, Director of Real Estate Development with Schinkel Properties, noted that was the initial plan. Since Steinbach has control of that road, city council was asked for permission, which was denied.

The access plan was re-worked and the access roads were connected to Hunter Drive and Deerfoot Trail.

est bus stops in this new development which will also accomodate students living along Eastgate Drive. He said the current plan will  separate traffic between the two developments.

La Broquerie council had no answers to the many questions on why Steinbach was refusing to work with a neighbouring municipality on a project that would benefit the city as most of the traffic would be going to Steinbach, for work or for shopping.

“It’s not right,” said deputy reeve Ivan Normandeau. “It’s frustrating on our part.”

Reeve Lewis Weiss suggested everyone might want to attend a Steinbach city council meeting to find out why the city refused safer access to this new development.

Councillors also wondered why the city consistently refuses to cooperate with any of La Broquerie’s plans for growth and progress.

“This council does not object to subdivisions that Steinbach does,” said councillor Laurent Tetrault. He expects the increased traffic flow along Highway 52 might be enough to urge the province to extend the twinning of the highway toward La Broquerie.

At the end of the hearing, there was no opposition to the road opening, and the application was approved by La Broquerie council.