Villeneuve residents are all for more homes and trails in their community, suggests a recent survey, but seem wary about future growth at the local airport.
About 30 Villeneuve-area residents gathered at the hamlet's community hall March 11 for a second open house on the community's new area structure plan.
That plan, if passed, will guide growth in the hamlet and the nearby Villeneuve Airport for the next few decades.
Villeneuve's sewage lagoon is near capacity and needs about $1.7 million in repairs and expansion if the community is to grow, said Michael Klassen, planning officer with the county.
Assuming that happens, county council will have to decide how to divide the lagoon's capacity between hamlet residents and the airport, said Clayton Kittlitz, the county's manager of planning and development.
Whereas last November's open house on the plan featured no zones or plans, last week's set out three possible zones that could be developed in the hamlet: two for the hamlet and one for the airport.
Villeneuve is so small that there's no need to have specific blocks of zoning for it in the plan, Kittlitz said. Administration is instead asking what mix of development they'd like to see in each zone of the plan (such as small shops or homes), and asking locals to talk about broad themes such as home, lifestyle, mobility and infrastructure.
"The front part of the area structure plan is going to be almost a community plan, what Villeneuve is about and what's important to its residents," Kittlitz said. Future developers will use these themes to shape their proposals.
Survey says
The county also presented preliminary results of a survey it's conducting with Villeneuve residents. About 30 people had responded to it as of the open house, Kittlitz said.
"The community itself isn't absolutely opposed to growth," Kittlitz said, with about 42 per cent of respondents saying they were not satisfied with Villeneuve's level of development. About 27 per cent were satisfied, while around 31 per cent weren't sure.
Residents who weren't satisfied with the level of growth were most likely to see retail, park and housing developments as most beneficial to Villeneuve, the survey suggests. Respondents also showed a clear preference for single-family homes over townhouses or condos.
Landowner Shaun Gannon said he was all for more residential growth, adding that he'd be okay with maybe 500 more people.
"Maybe we'll get some police out here if we get more residents."
Those homes would need amenities such as green spaces and walking paths, though, he added – both top priorities cited by survey respondents.
About 55 per cent of respondents agreed that flooding and drainage were of concern in Villeneuve.
Flooding is a huge issue, agreed resident Charmaine Sandulac, who knew of many homes that faced regular floods in town. She hoped future developments would fix the grading issues she blamed for the floods.
Sandulac also had major concerns with truck noise.
About 58 per cent of survey respondents said traffic noise was high around Villeneuve, with the vast majority saying that highway traffic had a negative impact on the community.
"The traffic volume's not the problem, it's the truckers using their jake brakes," Sandulac said – brakes she's heard 30 to 40 times a day ever since the traffic circle went in.
"That's excessive noise."
Just 39 per cent of survey respondents supported future development at the Villeneuve Airport. While 32 per cent agreed that airport development would improve the hamlet's quality of life, a further 36 per cent were ambivalent about its impacts.
County staffers will take comments from the survey and open house and use them to make a draft plan, Klassen said. The draft should go before council by the end of April.
Comments and questions should go to Klassen at 780-939-8370.
