REGINA – “That wasn’t part of the deal,” said Nichole Posehn, who has lived in Emerald Park for five years.
Posehn and other residents say a high-density community wasn’t what they signed up for.
“A few years back, when they were advertising to come and live where we live, they were saying it was country living,” said Posehn. “And if this goes through, I’m going to look out my back door and it’s not country living. It’s apartment buildings.”
A proposed development sees a two-storey care home and four-storey apartment being built amongst luxury country homes. It has homeowners concerned about property devaluation and increased traffic.
“Why would you erect a four-storey apartment building right in our backyards? To me, it just doesn’t make sense. It’s like sticking a square pig in a round hole,” said Patrick Schmidt, another concerned resident.
Schmidt spearheaded a petition against the development, raising more than 100 signatures. Many of those residents also worry about what kind of strain the population boom might put on local resources like water and sewage, as well as protective services.
“If there’s a fire at the four-storey hotel or fire in this apartment building, who’s going to attend and put out that fire?” said Schmidt.
Ben Kuzmicz, president of Great Plains Leaseholds, has sold many residents their homes. To some, he is known as the pioneer of Emerald Park, and says while change is inevitable, it is never welcome.
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“We started St. Andrews – we got opposition to St. Andrews. We started Hogan – we got opposition to Hogan,” said Kuzmicz in a public meeting in the RM of Edenwold.
All plans, that were eventually approved by council.
“The developers often have a plan for the community. As well as we have a plan for the community. And when we can harmonize the two, we like to move forward,” said Mitch Huber, reeve of the RM of Edenwold.
Now that the proposal has been outlined, the next step is for council to research some of the concerns, as well as continue talks with the developer about how they might address them.
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