Originally Posted by Leader Post
The City of Regina is planning a new neighbourhood that the bypass will bisect.
The proposed neighbourhood is in the southeast quadrant of the city, covering a flag-like shape south of the Trans-Canada Highway, north of Arcola Avenue, and east of Woodland Grove Drive, extending beyond Tower Road. The bypass will run north-south parallel to Tower Road, about 400 metres east of it.
"We just deal with it, that that's one of the characteristics of the land," said Mayor Michael Fougere.
He said landowners in the area want to see development on the eastern side of the bypass, and the city sees this area as an attractive strip for industrial development.
The city has a double role in this plan, as it's both landowner and regulator. It has been working with 17 landowners to come up with a neighbourhood plan for the 1,700 acres.
"It's really a consensusbased process," said Fougere.
Jana Sinclair, with Brown and Associates Planning Group, the Calgary-based firm behind the plan, said most landowners have been on the same page.
Her colleague, Nathan Petherick, said the high-level plan consists of residential, mixed use, retail and industrial development.
Petherick said the bypass hasn't been a major point of discussion, although it will influence development plans to a certain degree.
The Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure handed the company preliminary right-of-way information, which the neighbourhood plan must respect. A noise impact study and risk assessment will guide setbacks and efforts to mitigate the effects of being so close to the highway.
The ministry has also been working closely with the city when it comes to access to the bypass and traffic management related to Arcola Avenue East, said Highways and Infrastructure spokesman Doug Wakabayashi.
"The planning that we've done has taken into account the city's development plans, including the southeast quadrant. As a result, the work the city is doing now on the southeast neighbourhood plan won't result in any significant impact on the Regina bypass project," he said.
Petherick doesn't think the bypass will affect the appeal of the land either. He said the strip to the east of the bypass will be restricted in terms of what can built there (it will likely be reserved for light industrial use), and the neighbourhood won't have direct access to the bypass.
The planning company is breaking from the norm of doing a public consultation post-application to the city; it is opening a draft neighbourhood plan for comments next week.
"We just wanted to make sure by the time the city received an application it was actually reflective of all of the input we would get," said Sinclair.
The open house is being held Nov. 25 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Living Hope Alliance Church (3900 Arcola Avenue East).
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