The Rural Municipality of Stanley is in the middle of working on its Corridor Secondary Plan, which would see the development of the corridor between the cities of Morden and Winkler.

A public hearing was held Thursday during the Municipalities regularly scheduled council meeting. This offered an opportunity for people to the plan. The cities of Morden and Winkler as well as Manitoba Planning voiced a few concerns, via letter and in person during the hearing.

Stanley Reeve Morris Olafson said concerns from both Morden and Winkler were very similar. The overall concerns from the two communities and Manitoba Planning was that there wasn't enough detail in the proposed plan.

"You can't put everything into a tight little basket," said Olafson.  "For instance our little cluster we have with our business centre here. They're not on huge tracks of land, but they kind of compliment the whole area. It was something that was wanted, needed, and put here," said Olafson. "I don't like to get everything so tight into a development plan that restricts us into putting something that looks nice and fits into the corridor area."

Meanwhile, Winkler Mayor Martin Harder stated the plan does need some more detail and added the detail needs to back up the direction they are taking.

The City of Morden said in a letter to the RM that they would like for Stanley to hold off on passing this by-law until more details have been added to the plan.

Olafson said it's council's goal to have this corridor Ag-driven. Although, there are already other types of business' that are in the corridor and are other businesses that want to be in it as well. He noted there are certain businesses that would like to serve both Morden and Winkler and be visible to both.

"It might not look completely Ag related. We have the hospital and the hospital will meld itself to other facilities. Katie's Cottage is a prime example...there could be a regional pharmacy out here, who knows," said Olafson.

Harder says the plan needs to be complimentary to the growth of the cities rather than to hinder them.

"As the City of Winkler, we are concerned as to the plan development. We want to make sure it's not something they are just designing to be able to develop something at a lower cost factor to compete with the communities around them," said Harder. "We would like to see that development take place as a supplement rather than a competition."

According to Harder the question 'What service am I bringing to the region or community involved?'

"We want to work together. We want to do this properly, but we don't want to create a situation where it has a competitive advantage to the rest of the community," added Harder.

After hearing the concerns of the parties involved, Stanley council will go back and work toward addressing the issues raised.