Yorkton Council has some concerns about a proposed subdivision within the Rural Municipality of Orkney, and they voted unanimously to pass those concerns onto the Ministry of Government Services.

The location of the proposed subdivision is a half mile south of the city. The proposal accommodates a twelve lot commercial subdivision consisting of 47 acres. Water supply would be from a private well for each lot and septic disposal would be by a holding tank. The lots would be accessed via a service road from Highway #9, detailed a report circulated to the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Monday.

Gord Shaw, Director of Planning and Engineering said City Administration has concerns with the proposal.

“Highway #9 is a strategic corridor linking both the City of Yorkton and the RM of Orkney. This corridor lends itself to the joint preparation of an access management plan by the City of Yorkton and the RM of Orkney. This plan should be prepared within the next three to five years before mine development occurs to ensure that transportation management is addressed in an orderly manner and satisfies the Statements of Provincial Interest. This area of Highway #9 will likely experience increased land use activity in expectation of an announcement of a mine south of Yorkton. It is in the municipalities as well as Highways interests that this corridor is well planned to minimize traffic disruption in the future,” stated Shaw’s report. “… This subdivision does have the potential to negatively affect the City of Yorkton by not properly planning land use adjacent to this transportation corridor.”

In addition to the letter to the provincial ministry the proposal will be forwarded to the Yorkton District Planning Commission for its review.