REGINA – There has been yet another development in the ongoing tug-of-war between the City of Regina and the RM of Sherwood over the future of undeveloped land just outside City of Regina borders.
Great Prairie Development Corporation has announced plans to create a ‘mega-project’ in the RM of Sherwood that could see as many as 14,000 people live in the new area. Just one piece of the RM of Sherwood’s Official Community Plan that will guide future development.
The 736-acre community would be called Wascana Village and would be built just south of current city boundaries. The development would feature single family homes, townhomes, rental and student housing, a senior’s assisted living facility, two elementary schools and a high school.
The catch is that the location of the proposed development overlaps falls within land that the City of Regina hopes to annex for future development of its own. Those plans were announced last week by Regina mayor Michael Fougere, and came as a surprise to RM of Sherwood administrators.
“We’re excited to play a part in the evolution of Saskatchewan,” said Dan Schmid, President of Great Prairie. “Wascana Village represents planning for controlled growth in support of the Premier’s plan for growth.”
The plan is to make the new community self-sustaining, with its own access to water, sewage treatment facility as well as paved roads and street lighting – eliminating the need to be tied into City of Regina services.
- Train goes up in flames while rolling through London, Ont. Here’s what we know
- Budget 2024 failed to spark ‘political reboot’ for Liberals, polling suggests
- Wrong remains sent to ‘exhausted’ Canadian family after death on Cuba vacation
- Peel police chief met Sri Lankan officer a court says ‘participated’ in torture
“We’re in full support of Great Prairie’s planned community of Wascana Village,” said Tim Probe, Deputy Reeve for the RM of Sherwood. “The initial residential development ties in well with our official community plan.”
That plan includes several proposed developments that conflict with future City of Regina development. Probe has previously spoken out about his concerns about the conflicting plans, and Thursday Schmid has his turn.
“If this continues, you will have investment dollars leaving,” Schmid said. “You will not have an abatement in housing prices, if anything it’ll get worse.”
“You will have employment loss because look what happened with Kal Tire, that was a real shame,” he continued. “You will have people who cannot move here because they will not have accommodations to go to work. You will have an increase in congestion in the City of Regina. Is this what the province wants? Is this what you want as a citizen of Regina? You can answer that for yourself.”
If an agreement about future development of the land cannot be worked out between Regina and the RM of Sherwood it will be up to the province to settle the dispute.
Comments