(Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW staff)

By Angie Rolheiser

Open House

Work underway on new official community plan at Manitou Beach

May 26, 2021 | 2:26 PM

An open house held at Manitou Beach was the beginning of the resort village’s new official community plan.

The newly elected village council wanted to update the community plan and wanted to do so by engaging residents and gaining feedback.

The official community plan committee is made up of a dozen unelected as well as elected officials, according to village councillor and community member Robb LaRochelle.

“We really needed to have as many voices included as possible and so we tried to represent that with this committee,” LaRochelle said.

Over the winter, the committee did various activities that would represent information and community assets to be featured in the open house events.

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Community assets on display on the self-guided tour at Danceland over the past two weekends included parks, culture and art, the gravel pit, the drive-in and more.

“There were 172 people that attended which is over 50% of our full-time population,” LaRochelle said. “We were really quite happy with the quantity and quality of engagement that we have conducted with our constituents.”

LaRochelle said that he met with most people that came through, all of whom were excited that their input was not only being valued but that it was invited.

A survey was generated from the information that was on display which people were asked to fill-out online after taking the tour. The survey can still be found here and on the village’s website with a power point presentation with all of the information.

An official community plan update does not happen often, particularly in small communities, LaRochelle said.

“This is kind of rare. When I lived in Saskatoon, I attended one but I really don’t think they are that common,” LaRochelle said.

The next step for the committee takes place after the summer.

“We resume in the fall and now with having the data, it is then legislation to have a professional planner to proceed through this process,” LaRochelle said.

The Mid Sask Municipal Alliance (MSMA) has applied for and were given grants for seven communities to benefit.

“The MSMA grant will pay for the planner in the next phase,” LaRochelle said. “Beyond that, I don’t know what it looks like and how they use this raw data, but we will keep working with this non-elected group going forward.”

With having such a diverse community, it was important to have residents giving the feedback through the survey that followed the open houses.

“Our diversity is our strength and it is also our challenge,” LaRochelle said. “We have to keep in touch and keep those lines of communication open, and then things tend to go very well.”

Tourism is the main industry at Manitou Beach and, fortunately, most of the businesses that tourists enjoy have been able to mostly stay open.

“Most of our tourist destinations are seasonal, so being closed over the wintertime didn’t really effect them because the winter seemed to be worst part of the pandemic,” LaRochelle said. “Last summer, there were times when the beach would be a little crowded and people would have to make a decision for themselves, but it’s been quite successful.”

He added that there has been very little covid frequency in the Watrous-Manitou region and life has remained normal, for the most part.

“There is a lot of optimism in this community, and I think things just look better and better,” LaRochelle said.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser