Ritchot fire chief Scott Weir met with council at their public meeting held on February 4 to provide an update on departmental needs in the RM.
Two items hit the top of the fire department’s wish list. The first is a new pumper truck for Ste. Agathe. Built in 2008, Weir says the old pumper is pushing the end of its life cycle at almost 17 years of age. With an average build time of 18 to 24 months for a truck like this, Weir recommends that council begin the process of acquisition as soon as possible.
A new fire hall, too, made the list. Weir says the most reasonable location for a new hall would be Île-des-Chênes, since this is where most of their current firefighters respond from.
Councillor Janine Boulanger queried Weir as the possibility of placing it in Grande Pointe.
“I don’t think it would be a terrible idea to put something in Grande Pointe,” Weir told council. “Currently, we have more land over there. But we have two people from the Grande Pointe area and all of our [other] members are coming from elsewhere. That’s the only challenge.”
Regardless of which community it ends up in, CAO Mitch Duval says it must be located in the northeast section of the municipality.
“The need for a new fire hall in Île-des-Chênes is strictly based on the age of the existing infrastructure,” Duval told The Citizen. “An expansion is not being considered for this same reason. It is something we would like to pursue as soon as possible pending land options, funding, and costs.”
According to Duval, the Ste. Agathe and St. Adolphe fire halls are still in very good shape.
Council also gave approval of the first reading of two requests for zoning changes which, if passed after third reading, would make way for more multifamily housing.
The first request was for a rezoning of property located at the corner of Bonneteau Avenue and Dumaine Road in Île-des-Chênes.
“The proposition is to change from RMHP (mobile home park zone) to an RG8 (residential general) for the purpose of doing a multiplex as well as a single-family home in the area,” CAO Mitch Duval told council.
The second property council looked at was a vacant lot in St. Adolphe just north of the new daycare. To build multifamily units here, the lot needs to be zoned RG8 as opposed to the agricultural limited (AL).
In 2023, developer Luke Wiebe of Kingdom Home Building Inc. was denied the same rezoning request by council when he proposed the idea of constructing approximately 100 luxury apartments on this site.
For years, residents of St. Adolphe have been urging council to reserve the prime real estate on the community’s south side for commercial use.
Jason Bodnarchuk, councillor for St. Adolphe, encouraged council’s decision to deny Wiebe’s request back in 2023.
“I’ve heard from everyone that commercial won’t survive in St. Adolphe, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t try,” Bodnarchuk told council at the time. “Once you lose that land, it’s gone. We’re never going to get it back.”
First reading for both zoning requests were approved by council on February 4. The RM’s next step will be to send notices to all those affected, providing an opportunity for public response. The dates for these public hearings will be announced in the near future.
“I’m looking forward to the discussion to follow,” Boulanger said of the St. Adolphe rezoning request.