The message seemed to be loud and clear at the Estevan city council meeting on Monday night: rural municipality (RM) of Estevan residents affected by the proposed annexation of land into the city of Estevan have no interest in the plan.
Council received several letters from ratepayers for the meeting. The response shouldn’t be a surprise; it was clear at a public meeting last month that RM residents aren’t embracing the annexation concept.
Most people who attended last month’s meeting were fairly reasonable with their questions and concerns. The frustration is understandable. And, of course, there were a few who weren’t being reasonable.
Adam Nordquist, the development planner for the City of Estevan, noted at last month’s meeting that the city is pursuing this land so that it will have enough urban reserve for the next 30 years. It’s a practice many municipalities follow, he said.
It’s good the city wants to have lots of land for future developments. But does it already have enough land to get it through the next 30 years?
There is the land sold to Essex Developments for the Meadows subdivision that has yet to have any homes constructed. There is also the land north of the Estevan Comprehensive School that is awaiting development.
We saw how many homes, both single-family and multi-family, were constructed in the Dominion Heights and Trojan subdivisions during the boom period from 2006 to 2014. Areas that were once empty fields are now fully developed.
But it’s unlikely that we’ll see that kind of building and population explosion again for a long time. Even if there is a surge in commodity prices (which we’re looking forward to), it won’t be to the same degree that we saw a decade ago.
There were lots of doubts at last month’s open house about population growth projections as well.
One legitimate concern from the city’s perspective that is influencing the desire to annex land is to protect itself from a factory being construction along the truck bypass north of the city. If that were to happen, it would hurt the property values of the new homes constructed in the northcentral area of the city in recent years.
RM Coun. Del Block asked if the city would back off on annexation if the RM promised to never have a factory or a similar development constructed there. It was the type of reasonable question you’d expect from Block, the former chief of the Estevan Police Service.
Mayor Roy Ludwig said that might influence the city’s decision.
Does the city need the land now? No. Will it need the land 15 or even 30 years from now? We doubt it, but the city wants to be ready.
The city and the RM have been praised in the past for their cordial and co-operative relationship. There have been squabbles and disagreements between the two sides, such as with the truck bypass north of the city. But it didn’t drive a permanent wedge between the two sides.
Ludwig and Reeve Terry Keating say the relationship between the two sides hasn’t changed over this issue.
But it seems both sides are ready to fight over the question of how much land does one municipality need. Â
