The City of Estevan has embarked on the lengthy process of revising its community plan.
Richard Neufeld, who is the manager of the city’s land development services division, spoke to Estevan city council on Monday night. The project is named Our Estevan, and Neufeld said it involves three phases.
“The first phase is what are we about as a community,” said Neufeld. “The second one is to try to determine, through a very extensive public consultation program, where do we want to be. Where do we see ourselves 10 years from now.”
The third phase is the road map of how to get there.
A community plan is essentially a policy document to help guide land use decisions with the city, he said. Neufeld used the example of land that is undeveloped right now that might be set aside for future residential use.
“The direction I want to go into is to be a little more specific in some areas, so to have policy direction, as an example, for in-fill development,” said Neufeld. “And that’s one that’s near and dear to my heart, because we don’t have too much for rules right now if someone wanted to place a house in an established part of town.”
It means someone could construct a 3,000-square foot house, but then another person could construct a home one-tenth of the size next door.
“How much of that changeover is appropriate for the people who have lived there for 50 or 60 years, paying their taxes and what have you,” said Neufeld. “They bought into a neighbourhood that was going to be all uniformed houses.”
As for parks and recreation, Neufeld wants to know if the city is doing that properly as well. For example, he wondered if there should be more benches near senior citizens’ buildings, and trails designed to be friendly for those with mobility challenges.
He spoke with residents of Hillview Manor on Monday, and they discussed whether the slopes on the paved trails are designed properly.
“Some of the residents there have difficulty, and are actually a little bit fearful at times, navigating that with their walkers and wheelchairs. They’re afraid they’ll tip over.”
Public consultation will start in the next couple of weeks. Information will be sent out through news releases and the city’s website, and Neufeld said seven surveys will be prepared.
Each survey will be posted for three weeks.
“They’re short surveys that you can fill out really quickly,” said Neufeld. “There’s only about eight to 10 questions each. When the second survey is about halfway through, we’re going to publish results from the first one, and say this is what you’re telling us.”
The process with the surveys will continue until late fall, he said.
There will also be locations where people can fill out the survey, such as a kiosk at the Estevan Leisure Centre where an old iPad will be set up. They will also be at senior citizens’ centres and at the Estevan Farmers’ Market.
“I’ve already met with a number of the key stakeholders in the city regarding this project, and there’s going to be more meetings going on as the summer progresses,” said Neufeld.
Those stakeholders include developers, chambers of commerce representatives, city council, administration and department heads.
Neufeld said he is about a month into the process.
He hopes the first version of a report will be presented to council before the end of the year, and then it will be released to the public, likely at an open house where the city will discuss what people have told them regarding how they want Estevan to grow in the future.
Then further work will be completed on the document, giving people more time to respond.
“What we’re hoping is this heightened level of community engagement will be successful, and it will prompt a greater response from our … residents as to what they want to see in the future of the city,” he said.
Neufeld hopes that people will be more engaged in the process, and they will share their thoughts on the community plan.
Mayor Roy Ludwig said he also hopes the report will be well-received, and that it will generate a lot of input to make for a better plan.
Neufeld is confident that the new community plan can be completed by the spring of 2019.
