On Wednesday, March 29, the Macdonald-Ritchot Planning District (MRPD) board held an open house in the RM of Ritchot’s council chambers, presenting proposed changes to the collaborative municipal development plan.
The following night, a similar public hearing was held in the RM of Macdonald to give residents from both RMs the opportunity to attend and provide feedback.
Once approved by both councils and the province, the new development plan will officially replace the previous one, now 13 years old.
Development plans such as these are instrumental in helping municipal councils make decisions in terms of residential and commercial development, transportation routes, the protection of agricultural land, preserving the rural character of the communities, and managing the local waterways for drainage and flood protection.
Round one of public hearings took place last October in both RMs. Following numerous objections voiced at the time, the board took to making revisions. The March 2023 meetings were a response to those revisions, providing a second opportunity for public feedback.
WSP is the land management company commissioned by the MRPD to undertake development of the new plan. Kari Schulz, senior planner for WSP, was on hand at the Ritchot meeting to provide an overview.
“The alterations [we’ve made] can be considered major changes which requires [this] public hearing,” says Schultz. “The board has carefully considered all submissions, revised the development plan, and resubmitted to the province for review.”
Proposed Changes to the Development Plan
The first alteration the board made to the plan was in response to a rejection from the province over the redesignation of 64 acres of land in Île-des-Chênes west, which would have shifted it from agricultural to settlement area designation.
The goal for the MRPD was to focus residential growth toward this section just west of Highway 59. Since the provincial municipal board declined the proposal, this acreage will continue under agricultural designation.
For residents of St. Adolphe, the second alteration to the plan was of significant importance. This community, originally proposed for development as a settlement centre, was reconsidered based on community and developer feedback from the 2022 public hearing.
A key aspect of the new development plan is the categorization of each community in a region into one of two designations: rural centres and settlement centres.
Under these categorizations, municipal councils would have guidance as to which of their communities would be established as the principal growth centres, or rural centres.
Under the original plan, Île-des-Chênes was the only community in Ritchot to be designated a rural centre. Here would be the location of most of the municipality’s recreation services, the bulk of the commercial sector, and the biggest diversity in housing options.
Settlement communities like Grande Pointe, St. Adolphe, and Ste. Agathe, on the other hand, would maintain the larger-lot rural community feel.
In response to this, Brandon Powell of Lombard North, on behalf of SALCO, pled to the MRPD at the 2022 meeting to reconsider St. Adolphe’s designation.
To classify St. Adolphe as settlement, he said, would undermine the vision of Tourond Creek as a higher density, mixed-use development and make it difficult for the community to compete in a demanding housing market.
St. Adolphe resident Robert Doiron also aired his concerns, asking council to consider the limitations a settlement centre designation would pose to potential commercial development in the community.
“I don’t like to have St. Adolphe designated as [just] a place to live,” Doiron told the MRPD at the original meeting. “When businesses within the planning area are looking for a place to locate, I think St. Adolphe should be included.”
In response to those arguments, the MRPD changed their tune.
“The board agreed with their argument,” said Schulz at the 2023 meeting. “So, in this version of the development plan, we have designated St. Adolphe as a rural centre.”
One further change was made in terms of land designation, this in response to objections originally heard from the Town of Niverville. This objection was related to nine quarter-sections of Ritchot land that border the community of Niverville to the west and north.
These sections, under the original plan, were designated livestock management policy areas.
“Basically, this dictates whether new livestock operations can be established,” said Schultz.
In order to appease the Town of Niverville’s appeal for a restriction on new or expanding livestock operations in this area, the MRPD changed the designation of these lands to limited livestock management areas.
Ste. Agathe Resident Unsatisfied with New Plan
Despite some positive changes identified in the new development plan, one Ste. Agathe resident was disappointed with what the revision lacked.
Guy St. Hilaire owns approximately 22 acres of land along the riverbank in Ste. Agathe, on both sides of the dike. He’s owned the property for 30 years and it’s also the location of his home.
St. Hilaire attended the original meeting in 2022 to plead his case for a redesignation of a portion of his acreage from environmental policy area, which prevents development for the sake of environmental protection, to a designation which would allow for development on his land.
At the 2022 meeting, then-councillor Curtis Claydon also came to St. Hilaire’s defence.
“I want to challenge the enviro-policy on the draft of the development plan,” Claydon told the board. “We’ve seen exponential growth in Ritchot. We’ve seen St. Adolphe flourish, we’ve seen Île-des-Chênes flourish, and we’ve seen Grande Pointe flourish. But Ste. Agathe is stagnant.”
St. Hilaire made another personal appearance at the 2023 public hearing, making one final appeal to the MRPD for the policy change which didn’t make the cut the first time.
“You want to designate [all my land] as park space [even though] the province knew what our intentions were,” St. Hilaire told the MRPD. “We have an opportunity right now to remedy what was possibly an error… by the RM and the province.”
St. Hilaire spoke with The Citizen following the 2023 meeting. From the get-go, he says, his acreage was purchased with residential development in mind. In the early years, he contends that the province was amenable to his plans.
When the community dike was built after the 1997 flood, and the south portion was turned into a dike road, he says the province provided him with four approaches from the dike road to his property.
St. Hilaire was always led to believe that if he maintained the appropriate elevations for a flood zone, residential development should not be a problem.
For his land outside the dike, he considered taking extra precautions by developing basement-free homes which would further help prevent losses for the homeowners.
Even so, he says it’s probably an unnecessary precaution since all of this land stayed high and dry during the worst flood the area had seen in over a century.
Over the years, St. Hilaire has spent countless thousands of dollars doing what the province required in order to get his land development-ready. He knew about the land’s environmental policy designation all along, but it’s only been in the last couple of years that anyone’s determined what that designation actually means.
“It’s been a constant battle,” St. Hilaire says. “[Early on], all they did is colour it in green with no explanation as to what environmental policy [designation] even was. This time… all of a sudden it’s considered as park [land].”
St. Hilaire agrees that the slope along the riverbank, which he owns, should remain under environmental protection. Still, he says, this leaves a large section of his land which would be perfect for the development of pristine river view lots without causing disturbance to the riverbank.
“I’ve always felt that land like this, even under environmental policy [designation], is better under private custodianship,” says St. Hilaire. “You’ll pay more for a piece of property like that, so you’ll take care of it.”
Where Do They Go from Here?
At the conclusion of these public meetings, Ritchot and Macdonald councils will need to decide whether to take the plan back to the drawing board or consider it complete. If the latter happens, both councils will need to vote to approve it.
From there, the plan goes back to the province for their final stamp of approval.
For St. Hilaire, his sentiment remains the same as one he originally shared with the MRPD at the 2022 meeting.
“My contention is simple,” St. Hilaire said. “Allow us to develop this land as we deem appropriate, while following the rules and regulations pertaining to building in such areas. Or purchase the lands [from us] and do with it as the provincial authority wishes and let us get on with our lives.”