The Rural Municipality of Hanover will hold one last open house for its Development Plan review.

Planning Manager Jeremy Neufeld says the province requires they review their plan every five years. The Development Plan is the planning document which the municipality enacts under the regulations of the Planning Act. It guides development and sets policies. Neufeld says because all subdivisions have to comply with the Development Plan, the municipality must ensure the plan reflects the direction the municipality is growing.

According to Neufeld, the municipality has seen a shift in recent years from being mainly rural based to urban-based development. Neufeld says through the Development Plan they look to modernize more policies to better reflect that and to better accommodate commercial growth.

Neufeld says one of the highlights of this review is that they are working on being able to create a highway commercial corridor policy along Highway 52 between Steinbach and Mitchell, as well as along Highway 12 between Steinbach and Blumenort. He adds they are also looking at some rural industrial policies to better facilitate and offer options for rural businesses that may not be along the highway. They are also looking to try to come up with creative ways of doing some rural infill while at the same time managing the livestock industries and trying to avoid any sort of land use conflict that might come along with that.

The review of this Development Plan has been going on for a couple of years now and this is their third open house. It takes place Tuesday, July 18 from 5:30 pm to 8 pm at the RM of Hanover office.

"It's just an opportunity for people to come in and speak with our consultants, get an update as to where we are at with the plan," says Neufeld.

The previous open house took place April 24th. Neufeld says it generated a great turnout of about 30 people.

"The majority of these people are coming based on questions that they've had with specific interest of their property," says Neufeld. "We allow people to make requests specific to what they would like to do with their property, we've taken them into consideration."

They also see developers at these open houses, interested in how changes might impact their investments.

Neufeld admits the municipality had expected the April 24th open house would be the final one. But he says they have since held some meetings with the province and made a few changes.

"We just want to try and wrap things up, make sure that we have done a really good job of involving the public in this process," he says.

Following the open house, the plan goes to a public hearing before being submitted to the province for approval.