The RM of Stanley has completed a comprehensive Secondary Plan for the Village of Schanzenfeld, offering a vision for the community’s growth.

Ike Friesen, Deputy Reeve, describes it as a vision for how the village and surrounding area can develop now and into the future in a cohesive, connected and integrated manner.

“It also helps us identify which areas should be developed and which areas should remain [agricultural] land. It’s a fairly high level document laying the foundation of where development should happen in Schanzenfeld and what it should look like.”

Architects of the plan considered several factors.

“Transportation, efficient movement of vehicles along collector and local roads, especially as it's related to connectivity to Highway 32 which is very busy, as well as pedestrian and active transportation policies, park space and things like that.”

Friesen says the plan also takes into account servicing and infrastructure, including water, waste water and storm water as it affects both the older core village and smaller newer lots.

Various needs of this growing community were addressed.

“We want to try and plan the future at its best, so that we can maintain the village feel but also build a community that will meet future needs and expectations," explaine Freisen. "We do realize that there's quite a few home -based businesses, that's very popular in Schanzenfeld. We don't want to remove that, but we also want to provide a space for those businesses to relocate when they grow. The plan also looks at some employment areas where we can direct some either general industrial, light industrial and agro types of uses.”

The plan affects a large region, explains Friesen, encompassing an area extending from Winkler, south to the southern edge of the village.

The RM is welcoming input from the community. The secondary plan can be viewed here.