WHITE CITY - The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has rejected the Town of White City’s bid to expand their boundaries to include land in the Rural Municipality of Edenwold No. 158.
The Court of Appeal’s ruling on Monday dismissed White City’s appeal of the municipal boundary alteration application they had brought before the Saskatchewan Municipal Board committee, where they sought to annex almost 4,000 acres of land in the RM of Edenwold. The land in question included all of Emerald Park, as well as Park Meadows Estates, Meadow Ridge Estates, Escott/Deneve, Great Plains Industrial Park, and unincorporated lands.
The ruling appears to finally put an end to the dispute over boundaries involving the neighbouring communities of White City and Emerald Park located just east of Regina. From a political standpoint, the Town of White City is its own urban municipality while Emerald Park is included within the boundaries of the RM of Edenwold.
The area has seen exponential population growth over the last number of years with new residents moving in, and that growth proved to be a major factor behind the boundaries application.
According to their website, White City sought the municipal boundary application in 2018 after commissioning a future growth study that pointed to a population growth in the area to 22,000 by 2045. The town has expressed concerns that without more lands for development, its population density would rise to between 2,600 and 3,990 people per square kilometer by 2045, surpassing the City of Regina.
But their efforts were greeted with considerable opposition from RM of Edenwold residents who questioned the need for the annexation.
The Municipal Board heard the application in hearings held in Nov. 2022 in Regina. The RM of Edenwold stated on their website that in those hearings the committee received 60 written submissions opposing the application and 31 in favor. There were also eight oral submissions in opposition and seven in favour.
The municipal board made their ruling rejecting the application in January 2023, which was appealed later that year.
According to the Court of Appeals ruling released Monday, it was noted that "in its application for annexation [Application], the Town argued that it needed lands held by the RM to allow for its growth. The Committee rejected that argument, finding that the Town had not demonstrated, as a threshold requirement, that it required the lands it sought for the purposes of growth.
"The Town alleges that, in its Decision, the Committee erred in law by: failing to provide adequate reasons; ignoring, failing to consider and/or misapprehending the relevant evidence;failing to apply the proper principles and legal tests, including failing to consider the required factors under which a proposed annexation is to be valuated and determined pursuant to s. 18(4) of The Municipal Board Act, SS 1988-89, c M-23.2 [Act]; and, by basing its Decision on improper,considerations.
"...I am not persuaded that the Committee erred in law in any of the ways alleged by the Town, and I would dismiss the appeal."
In dismissing the case, the Court of Appeal has awarded costs to the RM of Edenwold.
“This is an unfortunate and disappointing result of many years of working to adhere to the Provincial Government’s directions and statements of provincial interest related to long-term planning and growth,” said White City Mayor Mitch Simpson in a statement. “As a newly elected council, we will be reviewing the decision and the project intently before making any decisions on how to move forward.”
Simpson said White City will “move forward with responsible and intelligent planning for growth in our community and continue to engage the provincial government for support and clarification for a long-term planning horizon.”
He added that the next steps will include completing the “update of the Town’s Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw based on input from our community and relying on best practices and comprehensive research to provide the best roadmap for our community going forward.”
In a statement, the RM of Edenwold indicated it wanted to move forward beyond the legal dispute.
“Emerald Park residents and the entire RM can be assured that we will continue providing the good governance that our ratepayers have come to enjoy,” said Reeve Al Trainor in a news release.
“With this legal dispute now over, we would sincerely like to offer White City success with its ongoing plans to develop its town centre. With cooperation, both municipalities can prosper and be good partners to all the communities in the region.”
