Residents of Île-des-Chênes were invited to an open house on March 20 at the TC Energy Centre, hosted by Ritchot’s council and Scatliff, Miller and Murray (SMM), engineers in urban and landscape design.
The goal of the meeting was to present the potential for a boundary shift for Île-des-Chênes that, if approved, would virtually double the size of the community.
The proposal comes as a result of collaborations between the RMs of Ritchot and Tache. Up for consideration is a section of nearly 1,200 acres of land bordering Île-des-Chênes’s east side and currently under Tache’s jurisdiction.
“We’re projecting to accommodate more than 25 years of future growth for Île-des-Chênes,” says 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.”
Janzen says this process first began in 2016 when the RM of Tache created a development plan that considered the possibility of a future land transfer to its neighbour.
In 2020, both RM councils invited SMM to perform a feasibility study on the process.
Monday’s meeting was the first public engagement to take place on the topic. In these initial stages, invitees were restricted to immediate stakeholders, which included Île-des-Chênes residents and 131 Tache property owners within the affected area.
Based on SMM’s study, the impact on these Tache property owners would be primarily positive.
Due to the difference in Ritchot’s taxation mill rate, these residents could expect to pay a lower amount of tax overall.
For example, a Tache resident with a property assessed at $200,000 could expect to save almost $244 in annual property taxes under Ritchot jurisdiction.
Likewise, owners of farmland in the area could anticipate a reduction in taxes of $6.60 per hectare.
In terms of services, Tache residents would likely see enhancements to their current garbage and recycling services. Ritchot charges an annual fee of $160 for this service. As well, they would have the opportunity to hook up to Ritchot’s sewer and water services down the road.
As for fire, police, and road maintenance services, nothing would change.
In the end, it’s an apparent win for residents of Île-des-Chênes too, as the annexation would provide space for ongoing residential and commercial growth well into the future.
Janzen says that one of the biggest concerns for most affected residents is the question of how fast the change could happen.
“I think some people are concerned that development is imminent,” says Janzen. “We’ve heard that from a few folks and we’re trying to assure them that this is the first in a very long process.”
Both councils will take feedback from Monday’s session to consider where to go from here. Should they decide to proceed, they will need to make a joint request for annexation to the Manitoba Municipal Board (MMB).
Greater public engagement would follow and the feedback gleaned from those meetings would be collected and submitted to the MMB. Should the MMB determine that there is sufficient dissent, a public meeting may be warranted.
In the end, though, Janzen says these neighbouring communities already function, to a large degree, as one unified community.
“Because of the proximity of the lands, there is a natural affinity and some of the [Tache] folks that I’ve talked to have kind of confirmed that,” Janzen says. “They already feel like they’re part of Île-des-Chênes. They come here to shop, they come to the arena, so they already identify with this town.”