Weyburn City Council will be discussing the future of growth in the city at their upcoming council meeting, which is scheduled for Monday. The hearing will be one of the final stages of a review of the Official Community Plan, as well as the Zoning Bylaw, both of which were last updated nearly two decades ago, in 2003. 

“The big thing for us, they have to make sure they fit within our strategic plans as a city, and it actually helps us focus on our future growth as a community,” explained Mathew Warren, City Manager for the City of Weyburn.  

The review was started in April of 2019 and has been conducted by P3Architecture. The review of the OCP and the upcoming meeting, as well as public input over the past few months, have been to help develop the framework. 

A number of stakeholders have been able to provide input, as well as input from other documents. The stakeholders include residents, businesses, the Rural Municipality of Weyburn, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education. The city administration and city council have also had input into the work.  

The OCP helps to provide a guideline for future economic development, future land use, management of lands subject to hazards and the management of environmentally sensitive lands.  

“For the city, our future residential growth is all to the north of the city, and all of our future industrial growth Is all to the southwest and the southeast,” explained Warren. The OCP and Zoning Bylaw will help to shape what that growth in those areas will look like. This includes what is considered discretionary use of land, where commercial areas will be located, and what the residential zoning could look like.  

The general public has had opportunities to provide feedback on the official community plan, which is available to read on the City of Weyburn website. Those who wish to make comments on the plan are welcome to do so ahead of the meeting. 

Council will have the first reading of the OCP and Zoning Bylaw on Monday. From there, further input can be collected as both documents are shaped to reflect the vision for the growth of the city. Once the city council has given its approval to the documents, they then go to the province for final approval.