Over the next few days, The Citizen will be presenting a series of articles which take a look back at 2023, including its ups and its downs, and gauges the most important stories to impact our corner of southeastern Manitoba.
This was the first full year in Manitoba completely free of government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions. For many, this has represented a return to real life. And despite inflation hitting consumers below the belt, overall economic growth has been healthy and vibrant.
As a result, 2023 has been a particularly big year for transformative announcements in Niverville and the surrounding area.
Hollywood Comes to Niverville
While speculation was in the air about something big coming to Niverville, few were privy to just how big it was—that is, until March 23 when the public first learned about Jette Studios bringing a film studio to our region.
Politicians, producers, and businesspeople filled a meeting room at the CRRC to get a first peek at the exciting venture. Currently, the studio is set to break ground in the spring.
“A soundstage of 20,000 square feet provides enough space to build multiple sets, including large-scale sets, and to store equipment such as cameras, lighting, and props,” says Chris Harrington, co-CEO of Volume Global, the film company behind the project. “At this size, filmmakers can easily adjust the set layout and lighting to suit the needs of different scenes, providing greater flexibility in the production process.”
The unique state-of-the-art studio will boast a giant LED wall known as the Volume, which forms a 312-degree arc and on which can be rear-projected any type of background imaginable.
Thanks to this new technology, a film can be set anywhere. For example, a scene could be filmed at Stonehenge without having to fly an entire film crew to Wiltshire, England. Instead they’d only need to hop onto a direct flight from Los Angeles to Winnipeg. The effects of this venture on the local economy promise to be monumental.
Highway 311 Upgrades
In direct response to the Jette Studios announcement, the provincial government unveiled their plan to assist Niverville in paving the way for the film industry’s imminent arrival.
Doyle Piwniuk, the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure at the time, detailed a $40.6-million highway infrastructure investment for Highway 311 on the west end of Niverville.
“It is no secret that Niverville punches above its weight when it comes to community development,” said Piwniuk. “Today our government is announcing its support for improvements [including] a potential new roundabout between Krahn and Wallace Roads with the future twinning of the highway as traffic flows increase.”
Shared Wastewater Treatment Plant
Though the project was first announced in late 2022, by the spring of 2023 preliminary designs were in place for a $110-million shared wastewater treatment plant.
Years of collaboration between four municipalities—Niverville, Ritchot, Tache, and Hanover—have led to this. The project is seen as a proactive response to environmental concerns since it will help eliminate the need for lagoons in the future.
“It’s a fantastic project for the communities,” said engineer Barry Williamson. “This is the first regional treatment plant in Manitoba and I think it’s going to set the stage for others. [It’s great] to see how a collaborative approach with other municipalities makes things come together.”
The project will be a massive undertaking. The plant will eventually be located just north of Niverville and serve 12 nearby communities, plus some rural areas in between via 90 kilometres of effluent pipeline. Nine lift stations will be constructed, one in almost every community being serviced.
The Red Seine Rat Wastewater Cooperative (RSRWC), comprised of members from each of the four municipalities, will serve on the oversight committee. At this stage, they anticipate a completion date of 2028.
Niverville Land Annexation
The project may be in limbo right now, but throughout 2023 Niverville has been awaiting the province’s response to a proposal to annex land that would literally double the town’s size.
If approved, Niverville would acquire almost 2,600 acres of land from the RM of Hanover. This includes a swath of property on both sides of the two-mile stretch of Highway 311 from Niverville to Highway 59.
For Niverville, the stakes are high. Based on current growth rates, the community is expected to run out of developable land in the next 15 to 20 years.
Researchers at Urban Systems anticipate that Niverville’s population could reach between 30,000 and 40,000 in the next 25 years.
The RM of Hanover is also hoping for the proposal to be approved. Hanover reeve Jim Funk cites the economic benefit of creating a new commercial corridor bordering his RM. And with Niverville being the closest urban centre, delivering services to this corridor is much more feasible under the town’s governance.
A Manitoba Municipal Board public hearing has been set for late January. Stakeholder feedback will be collected and reviewed prior to any decision being made.
A French School
In April 2023, The Citizen broke some big news that lends renewed optimism for many Francophone in and around Niverville.
Bernard Lesage, chairperson for the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine (DSFM), reported that his division would soon be submitting their capital plan for new schools to the province. A French school for Niverville was at the top of that list.
“Right now, there’s a lot of kids from Niverville already going to Gab-Roy,” Lesage said. “But there’s a lot more kids that have the right to be in a Francophone school. And when you have a school of proximity, that will be why parents choose a school. So that’s why we’ve put École Niverville [first], and then we’re going to work on the high school [in Île-des-Chênes].”
In terms of priorities, Île-des-Chênes comes in as a close second for a new French school, to take some of the strain off École Régional Gabrielle-Roy.
The DSFM’s proposal is for a Kindergarten to Grade Eight school in Niverville and, soon after, a new French high school in Île-des-Chênes. École Régional Gabrielle-Roy would then transition into an elementary and middle school.
The DSFM is still awaiting a final response from the province.
New Dike and Land Acquisition in Ritchot
In June 2023, residents of Ste. Agathe were invited to a third and final public hearing which has introduced designs for a new ring dike initiative.
Representatives from Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure (MTI), KGS Group, and Scatliff, Miller, and Murray (SMM) were on hand to help guide the community through the planning process.
The province’s goal, ultimately, is to make improvements to the community dike so it can withstand a one-in-200-year flood.
One of the most involved sections of the new dike is one that doesn’t yet exist. It’s the one-kilometre stretch along the riverbank on the community’s east side.
This area borders private property and public space, including the local boat launch, and it’s the portion of the dike that garnered by far the most curiosity and feedback from residents.
The final proposed design for this section was a hybrid version of two earlier options. These included an earth dike similar to what surrounds the community now, integrated with a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall dike.
Aside from public feedback, several factors influenced the design, including the cost of the build, environmental impacts, and the feasibility of construction in the designated timeframe.
In order to take advantage of federal grant monies, a completion date of March 2025 is targeted.
Meanwhile in Île-des-Chênes, representatives from SMM also host3e an open house at the TC Energy Centre to address the community’s future growth. They proposed to shift the town’s boundary with the neighbouring RM of Tache, with Ritchot annexing 1,200 acres.
“We’re projecting to accommodate more than 25 years of future growth for Île-des-Chênes,” said Tom Janzen of SMM. “We’ve done an early study to look at different growth scenarios and [they will continue to] be refined as the process goes forward.”
The process, which begins with stakeholder feedback and ends with an application to the province, is a lengthy one. So far there is no definitive target date.
