The Manitoba government is proposing legislative amendments that would ensure prospective homebuyers in new residential areas have the most accurate information available on the location of future school sites. This announcement was made by Local Government Minister Ron Lemieux and Education Minister Nancy Allan.
“Buying a home is an important part of raising a family for many Manitobans,” said Lemieux. “Everyone, including developers, municipalities, school boards and homebuyers, will benefit from increased transparency in this process.”
“Our government is committed to building schools in growing areas,” said Allan. “Too often, expectations are raised by information that does not accurately reflect local planning decisions. Families deserve to have accurate information about where school sites could be located.”
The amendments proposed would change the Planning Act, the City of Winnipeg Charter, the Public Schools Act and the Public Schools Finance Board Act to:
• prohibit developers from advertising any site as a school site that has not been approved by the Public Schools Finance Board.
• require a school division to provide public notice of its intention to dispose of land it received for a school sit, and to present its disposition plans at an open meeting;
• ensure collaboration between planning authorities and school divisions in the planning of new residential developments and the provision of sites for schools within those developments; and
• require mandatory dedication of land as a condition of subdivision approval or the provision of funding in lieu of land with a price set at the assessed value of land before development takes place.
School divisions are currently consulted at the discretion of the developer regarding school sites and often do not participate in the planning for new residential development to any significant degree. This can create home purchaser expectations that do not reflect school division planning. Often, school site location, access and transportation are presented to divisions after the subdivision approval process has been completed, the ministers said.
“The Manitoba School Boards Association (MSBA) is pleased that the Government of Manitoba has heard and responded to school boards’ concerns about school site acquisition and development procedures,” said MSBA president Robert Rivard. “This legislation will help bring transparency to a complex process. This bill would ensure that school boards, property developers, municipal governments and the Public Schools Finance Board work co-operatively together, to the benefit of Manitoba’s students.”
Lemieux and Allan said the general public would be better protected by these amendments because they will ensure consultation is an important part of proposals for new residential developments and prospective new homebuyers will have a clear understanding of how schools will be provided for in a new community. Several of the changes proposed in this bill are similar to requirements already in place in other provinces, they said.
