Steinbach city council has decided to review the requirements for businesses to pave their parking lots. The concern is specific to businesses located along gravel roads. Deputy Mayor John Fehr says it makes no sense for them to have to pave their parking lots.

"I've had this thrown at me on numerous occasions over the last six months to a year. If I was going to asphalt my yard along a gravel road, I wouldn't want to do that because you're going to drag all the clay on your yard and it's going to be just as messy as if you have a gravel yard. So I don't see the purpose in asphalting a lot that is adjacent to a gravel road."

Fehr says, since the city its reviewing its Zoning Bylaw anyway to accommodate the pending annexation of land, it may as well look at this too. Mayor Chris Goertzen agrees it's a good idea.

"Normally in a city, we require hard-surfacing of parking lots. When some areas are developed along gravel roads, there were some questions raised by council whether we should be requiring hard-surfacing in those areas. This will be reviewed as we go through this process in the coming months. I think it's an important issue to review to make sure that we're getting it right."

City council was unanimous in approving the review.