Fougere unveils plans to expand Regina’s boundary

REGINA – Regina mayor Michael Fougere says the city needs more room to grow, and that plans are moving ahead to expand the city’s borders.

City officials are currently in discussions with the RM of Sherwood on a mutual economic development in the area around Regina.

“An important part of our economic growth strategy is to identify our growth needs to accommodate growth for the both the City and the RM in the urban-rural fringe, a band of Land on the outskirts of the city,” said Fougere. “One tool available to us to accommodate growth is boundary alteration or annexation.”

And with numerous developments already underway in these fringe areas, time is of the essence.

“Several land owners have requested annexation into the city so that they can receive various city services, such as water, sewer, transit and fire protection,” Fougere said. “We want to move now to satisfy those requests.”

Last month, BC-based Kal Tire scrapped plans for a new warehouse west of Regina, citing a missed construction deadline as one of the reasons. The company had been working with the RM of Sherwood for more than a year before the City of Regina took issue with the development. The province stepped in to help resolve the dispute, but shortly after Kal Tire announced they would be moving the project to Alberta.

Fougere acknowledged Friday that there is a lot of money at stake, though he remains confident a resolution on annexation can be reached in the next few months.

“These are exciting growth opportunities that will benefit both the City of Regina and the RM of Sherwood,” said Fougere.

Despite the optimism surrounding the ongoing discussions, there were no representatives from the RM of Sherwood at Friday’s announcement.

Currently the city has invested nearly $1 million on joint planning with neighbouring municipalities including the RM of Sherwood.

Whitney Stinson will have more on this developing story on the Evening News at 6.