McLennan council fine-tunes municipal development plan

Kevin Laliberte
Smoky River Express

The Town of McLennan is in the process of tweaking its municipal development plan through Mackenzie Municipal Services Agency. Council and administration reviewed the information in detail at its April 9 meeting after meeting face-to-face with Nathan Petherick, director of planning for the Berwyn-based agency. Petherick provided council with a draft land use and transportation concept for council’s consideration with respect to the long-term planning strategies of the municipality. “The overall intent of the municipal development plan is to establish a strategic land-use framework for the municipality, and subsequently establish the preliminary direction of additional planning initiatives,” he said. “These may include refinement of the land-use bylaw, completion of appropriate area structure plans, and/or assessment of future land requirements.” The land-use plan, as presented by Petherick, was based on a number of general planning principles. They include: allowances for residential expansion and intensification; opportunities for highway commercial development; the addition of core commercial and transitional areas; the protection of community-based facilities; concentration of industrial development in appropriate areas; industrial uses in proximity to nuisance lands; and the preservation of environmentally sensitive areas (primarily the lakeshore along Kimiwan Lake). “These guiding principles form the basis of the land-use concept within McLennan,” he added. Land allocation under the plan breaks down to include 40 per cent for residential, 28 per cent for community, 19 per cent for industrial, nine per cent for environmentally sensitive areas, and four per cent for commercial. He identified an area south of the lagoon at the golf course as being best suited for industrial development in addition to the possibility of land east of that location towards Highway 2. Town council expressed a keen interest to re-zone a portion of land on the east end of town in close proximity to the highway for commercial use. “We have had interest for commercial development on that specific side of the municipality,” said Coun. Robert Bisson, adding that what happens this spring and summer in terms of residential and commercial development may dictate the direction of the long-term plan. Transportation plan The transportation component of the plan, meanwhile, provided a bird’s eye perspective of future roadway infrastructure initiatives which would tie in with the land-use plan. Petherick presented a draft plan identifying core transportation priorities on existing roadways and the proposed alignment/designation of future road allocations. That included a proposed arterial road could provide a future link between Range Road 195 and the eastern boundaries of the municipality. “It’s definitely a good starting point for us,” said Coun. Dwayne Stout. Minor changes to both plans were suggested by council. Those changes will be redrafted and presented at a future meeting for municipal approval. From there, a draft policy will need to be developed prior to a final review. v That is to be followed by an open house for the public to provide its input. Formal adoption of the plans may be ready for final approval by as early as September of this year.