City tables updated Official Community Plan
“Really this document sets out the road map for the next 25 years of growth and development. So I would encourage everybody to come into City Hall and take a look. It’ll be available on-line. And be involved in the process with the implementation of our new zoning bylaw over the course of this year. That’ll be the big tool that will help guide some of the policies in this document today.”
Ruus pointed out the new official plan is proposing new land use regulations that will directly impact some property owners.
“For some property owners there could be some impacts,” he admitted. “We’ve outlined specific areas for additional study with some of the environmental concerns and so on. But really what this document does is create kind of a transparent process for development moving forward. So any property owner in this City that’s wanting to invest, as we encourage them to do, they know exactly what they’re getting into. They know where those hazardous areas are. Where there’s safety concerns. And so they can minimize any impact on the risk they’re taking when they’re investing in this community. And we want to make that process as easy as possible for businesses to continue to flourish in Swift Current.”
An environmental sensitivity map is part of city plan, and while those areas hadn’t specifically been identified previously, it was built into the overall framework.
“Our intent here was to make it more transparent with it actually in the document, where property owners know exactly where those areas are moving forward, rather than investing and finding out some of these things down the line.”
The plan also is designed with regional cooperation in mind. “Our plan here is a made in Swift Current approach to development. And our approach to economic development in the broader sense has always been regional. We fully recognize that the City is successful when the region is seeing investment, whether that’s in the RM of Swift Current, in the Southwest region of Saskatchewan, or within the city’s boundaries itself.”
“The surrounding region conversely also benefits when we see investment in this community within the City of Swift Current.”