The City of Steinbach will have to revise its Zoning Bylaw and its Official Community Plan as soon as the provincial government gives its final approval to a plan to annex 2,800 acres of land from the RM of Hanover. Troy Warkentin, the city's Chief Administrative Officer, has advised city council to apply for a grant to cover the cost of reviewing and updating those documents.

"With the recent Municipal Board report in connection with the city's annexation application, the expectation is that the annexation will be approved, based on that recommendation. And, as a result, the city will need to proceed with a review of its Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw. The Community and Regional Planning Branch of the province does provide financial assistance in order for the city to do that. We are requesting council's consideration to approve applying for a grant which could be up to 50% of the expected proposed cost of $42,000."

City council was unanimous in approving the grant application. Councillor Michael Zwaagstra says the review and revision of those documents is important work.

"When we consider that the Municipal Board has approved the city annexing a significant amount of land from the RM of Hanover, that's land that we're going to have to incorporate within city boundaries. We want to make sure that we plan appropriately for the future. So we need to review our Official Community Plan and our Zoning Bylaw. We are going to be undergoing that process in the coming months, of going over those, and making sure that this land is incorporated appropriately, that we have the correct zoning categories and that we plan ahead for years to come."

Mayor Chris Goertzen agrees and adds the review will be extensive.

"It is important that we go through this carefully and that we include public consultation, that we use all the mechanisms that we did in the previous Official Community Plan amendments as well as our Zoning Bylaw review that we did a number of years ago. This is going to be a major part of our work over the next year."