Project Overview
The RM of Pense No. 160 invites all residents and community members to get involved as we move forward with the update and renewal of the municipality’s Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw.
The RM’s strategic location along the Moose Jaw-Regina Economic Corridor and its significant role as the home of multiple industrial enterprises provides great advantages and opportunities to continue to grow the municipality and continue to offer an optimum level of services to our ratepayers. These current opportunities, along with existing constraints, will play an important role in refining our future growth direction, land use regulations and long-term plans of the municipality.
Participating in the planning process and helping us determine what is important to our community is vital. We want your help to ensure our Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw are responsive to the unique needs of the residents and businesses of our municipality.
The RM is very well-positioned to continue to grow and develop as a key player in the region. However, it requires an up-to-date strategy to balance agricultural and natural resource production and existing residential interests.
The RM's current Official Community Plan (OCP) and Zoning Bylaw were adopted in 2013 and are now over ten years old. A more up-to-date comprehensive development and planning policy framework is necessary to reflect a unified vision of the community and to guide the municipality forward.
The new Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw shall recognize the current and future community's needs, meet all provincial regulatory requirements, and serve as the growth framework for the community.
In Saskatchewan, The Planning and Development Act, 2007 enables municipalities to manage land use and development through the adoption of official community plans and zoning bylaws. In general terms, a municipality’s official community plan and zoning bylaw aims to meet the following objectives:
• Establish a framework for land use, growth and development for all parties to follow, thereby creating certainty for the future of the community;
• Set out a desired framework for development by defining goals, objectives & policies;
• Inform residents of a community about how Council intends to direct and manage the community’s needs and expectations;
• Provide opportunities for input by all affected interests in community planning;
• Clarify the municipal role in the development process;
• Guide Council in making municipal decisions; and
• Empower Council to enforce land use decisions and reduce land use conflicts.
The Official Community Plan describes the Council's vision and mission for the community's growth. Its policies and objectives aim to coordinate municipal programs, manage land use and development, and illustrate the community's future. The Official Community Plan can be viewed as a growth framework that contains statements of policy relating to the municipality's physical, environmental, economic, social, or cultural development.
The Official Community Plan, through its Future Land Use Map, also depicts the
future growth direction of the municipality by identifying where and what areas may be suitable for specific developments. The Future Land Use Map is intended to reduce uncertainties for current and future residents, businesses and developers in the community.
The Zoning Bylaw is the primary tool available to the municipality to implement the Official Community Plan's policies. It divides the municipality into zoning districts and regulates land use and development in those districts by setting standards for the use of the lands or specific developments within those zoning districts.
Our community engagement process aims to shed light on the community’s priorities and aspirations and determine the overall direction for the future of the municipality.
There will be various opportunities such to provide input and feedback into the planning process.
The first is the community feedback survey! Take a few minutes to complete the online survey!
RM of Pense No. 160 - Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw Community Feedback Survey
The Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw are anticipated to be completed by end of Spring 2025.
However, the project timeline is subject to change to enable Council and Administration to optimize public engagement and ensure everyone has an opportunity to participate in the planning process.