Solid planning can now begin

It’s not typically the way civic officials hear from the province.

But when council received information from Corman Park resident David Greenwood last week that the provincial government has acquiesced with a City of Saskatoon request that the RM hold off on creating more dense acreage developments north of the city until the region has more time to plan, it was clear the information was new and not unwelcome.

Mr. Greenwood told council his RM had received a letter from Keith Comstock, the assistant deputy minister of Government Relations, explaining why the province had refused to grant a request to permit as many as six residential developments per quarter, but also warned that people within the RM were ready to write off any co-operation with Saskatoon when it comes to planning.

But the letter was more telling about the attitude of the region. Mr. Comstock indicated virtually every rural and urban government in the area and every provincial ministry impacted by the proposed development were on side with coming up with a plan.

The city has proposed more dense development in an area north of the current boundaries — and even outside the current planning district that encompasses enough land for Saskatoon to grow to 500,000 — be made to wait until the region can develop a solid plan on how to get Saskatchewan’s largest city to a million people.

There are some in the city and the RM who doubt that lofty number is possible. Even if the million-person goal seems high, it’s better to have a plan for success than to have to deal with planned failure.

That plan, by the way, will begin at the summits led by regional economic development organizations that are set for next month in Regina and Saskatoon. If these summits, which are hoping to attract a broad swath of players to talk about the future, can come up with basic principles on how Saskatchewan’s two major regions are to develop, it will not only provide security for investors, it will give confidence to the next generation that they can have a future without having to migrate.

The willingness of the area urban and rural governments and the province to plan for the greater good, as spelled out in Mr. Comstock’s letter, will be critical for the future growth of the province.

But if the acreages are allowed to develop to the north as they have south of Saskatoon, they could seriously impede development throughout the region, reducing the value of neighbouring land that could one day be part of an urban neighbourhood.

Even with the delay requested by the province and the city, that doesn’t mean development within the RM — including in the contested area — has been totally curtailed. The city has within the last couple of weeks struck a fire-protection deal with Corman Park that is essential for any development to take place.

The province should be congratulated for its vision. As the psychoanalyst said in the final words of the Philip Roth book Portnoy’s Complaint, “So. Now vee may perhaps to begin. Yes?”