Steinbach city council has decided to object to the RM of Hanover's proposed new Development Plan. City councillor Michael Zwaagstra says the city's concern centres on the area along Highway #12 between Steinbach and Blumenort where Hanover's new plan appears to leave the door open to commercial development.

"The city does have some concerns in regards to some of the area, in particular, between Steinbach and Blumenort. It's a formal process that when there's a public hearing, we need a formal resolution of council to enable our administration to send a formal letter expressing our concerns. But our hope is that this will be able to be worked out between the city and the RM. So this is really a formality, making sure that our concerns are on the record."

The RM of Hanover will have a public hearing on the new plan next week.

Mayor Chris Goertzen says according to the spirit of the recent annexation agreement between Steinbach and Hanover, the two municipalities agreed that commercial development should be confined to the urban centres of Steinbach, Blumenort and Mitchell and not the areas in between.

"Council felt it was important to have a further discussion with the RM of Hanover. At this time, we have sent in an objection but we'll have further dialogue next week and we look forward to having a growing region, which means a growing Hanover."

Steinbach Chief Administrative Officer Troy Warkentin says they want to avoid the kind of ill-planned development that happened along the highway between Winkler and Morden where there are no urban service connections available to businesses.