WaterWolf Catch Newsletters

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Issue 11 ~ Issue 12 ~ Issue 13 ~ Issue 14 ~ Issue 15 ~ Issue 16 ~ Issue 17 ~ Issue 18 ~ Issue 19 ~ Issue 20 ~

WATERWOLF UPDATES

The committee hosted a WaterWolf Planning Workshop on September 18th in Outlook and approximately 40 representatives turned out from all over the WaterWolf region. The WaterWolf Growth Management Plan was reviewed in some detail and proposed budgets and six month timeline was presented to the group. The committee is focused towards establishing a formal Regional Planning Commission by the end of March 2009. Meanwhile, the WaterWolf Technical Committee met on September 24th in Outlook. Each department represented at the meeting was asked for input for the Growth Management Plan, which will then be placed into the plan in the appropriate area.

WaterWolf is getting lots of publicity! MidSask’s Denise Guillet presented “Land Use Planning in Rural Saskatchewan” at the ESRI Regional Users Conference in Regina on September 11th. It was a great opportunity to tell the WaterWolf story and talk with people who may be able to help gain access to some of the data that we are missing

WaterWolf Draft Plan Ready for Viewing!!
Looking for some summer reading as you lounge around the lake? Check out the WaterWolf Growth Management Plan and the Lake Diefenbaker Destination Area Plan on this website then let us know what you think! Any questions or comments can be directed to our office via email at info@midsask.ca or by phoning 1-888-929-9990.
The last WaterWolf Planning Workshop was held in the middle of June before breaking for summer holidays. At the meeting, the two draft plans were handed out to each municipality involved. Open house dates to showcase the WaterWolf Growth Management Plan will be decided at the September 18th meeting. These open houses will be stationed around the WaterWolf area with the purpose of gathering public input. Check back for dates, times and locations

Links: WaterWolf Audited Financial Statements

Links: WaterWolf Growth Management Plan Draft 2008

Waterwolf News

WaterWolf

There is no rest for those involved in WaterWolf!! Approximately 16 of the urban municipalities within the WaterWolf planning area came together for two days in April to meet individually with Karen & Dwight, the Municipal Capacity Development Program planners. The information gathered from these sessions will be incorporated into the WaterWolf Land Use Concept Map as well as the overall plan. A writing workshop for the administrators of both the rural and urban municipalities will be held on May 6th in Outlook with about 22 administrators participating in this workshop.

The WaterWolf area has also grown once again! The RM’s of Rosedale & McCraney have joined the planning group and GIS technician Denise Guillet is currently working on adding them to the map. The next meeting will be held on June 16th at the Legion Hall in Outlook. The WaterWolf committee has presenters booked who will discuss septic systems along the lake and river, rules and regulations and what the future holds for waste disposal for property close to these bodies of water. Russ and Denise will also provide a summary of what has taken place with the WaterWolf project over the past year or so and this information will be put into the tax notices for the entire area with a map accompanying it. For more information, follow the links to the two Land Use Concept plans (WaterWolf and Corridor 11) on the www.waterwolf.org site. These links will take you to the live interactive map hosted on the web.

WaterWolf Update

Two WaterWolf meetings have taken place since the last update. The first was held on January 30th and the second was held on February 28th, both in Outlook. Participation numbers have grown to almost 40 participants for the last workshop. We have since added 5 new rural municipalities at the south end of the planning area: the RM’s of Huron, Maple Bush, Victory and Canaan have all joined the Planning Area and have been added onto the main map. Russ and Denise visited all these communities prior to Dwight Mercer’s and Karen Thogersen’s planning exercises just to give the RM’s an overview of what this project is all about. The addition of these RM’s brings the total for the WaterWolf area to 12 participating RM’s as well as all of the urban centres within. Topics have ranged in the workshops from individual concerns within each municipality to the formation of a Planning Commission. Dwight Mercer, Karen Thogersen and Tim Cheesman from the Municipal Capacity Development Program have been in attendance at both workshops and have been aiding in the discussions. The next workshop will be held in Outlook on March 27th at the Legion Hall. Dan Knutson with the Saskatchewan Building Officials Association will be on hand as guest speaker that day. For those needing further information on WaterWolf, all bylaws and servicing agreements can be accessed on this website.

Corridor 11

Denise has created the first draft of the Planning Area from the maps that were worked on by Dwight and Karen when they had met with the municipal councils back in December. The first Planning Workshop was held in Davidson on February 25th. Participants outside the Corridor 11 region were also invited to sit in on the discussions. Dwight Mercer, Karen Thogerson, along with Tim Cheesman form the Municipal Capacity Development Program were in attendance at the workshop and have been aiding in the discussions. The next workshop will be held again in Davidson on March 25th.

Link - Waterwolf Audited Financial Statements

The rural municipalities involved in the WaterWolf Land Use Planning project were visited in November. The planning map was left with each RM and they were asked to follow up with Russ and Denise with any questions or concerns about the direction we are heading.
A land use meeting was held in Davidson to discuss their planning project we are also working on. Dwight Mercer will also be helping out with the planning stages of this project. He was provided with blank RM/urban maps to facilitate the meetings that he had with them. A very positive outcome and follow-up meetings will happen in early 2008.

December 11, 2007-“The WaterWolf land use planning group known as the “#11 corridor group” consisting of the towns of Davidson, Craik, and the RMs of Arm River and Wilner have been meeting with the SARM/SUMA planner, Dwight Mercer. Opportunities for public input will be communicated as the process unfolds. As a part of the process, we should see a draft zoning map for public comment by the end of March. The map should be available over the internet by Internet Map Server by that date.

This is also an opportunity to welcome Maurija Skansen, the new coordinator for the South Saskatchewan River Watershed Stewards to our office. There is some excellent synergy between the land use process undertaken by WaterWolf, and implementation of the water protection plan by the Watershed Stewards. We look forward to working together to accomplish some common goals.

An initial meeting has taken place by a range of stakeholders to investigate designation of the South Saskatchewan River as a “Canadian Heritage River”. This is an exciting initiative that could bring a great deal of focus and publicity to one of Canada’s great rivers. Stay tuned.

MidSask Goes to Ottawa

MidSask REDA/CFDC General Manager Jim Tucker and WaterWolf project Manager Russ McPherson recently returned from a meeting hosted by the Rural Development Institute in Ottawa. WaterWolf is one of the project models featured by RDI at Brandon University but similar models were also presented from Manitoba and the Yukon. The discussion centered on developing strategies to sustain these successful models past the programs end in March 2008. Minister of the Rural Secretariat for Agriculture Christian Paradis also met with Russ and Jim to discuss the best options in developing rural areas.
Meanwhile back at home base, Denise completed the first couple of drafts of the Land Use Planning map and continues to make updates or changes.
On the road…again!! Russ and Denise will soon be taking their land use planning initiative to rural municipalities in our region. They will visit 7 RM’s in the weeks to come to present the first draft of the Land Use map and gather input from these respective regions. Contact Russ or Denise at 867-9566 if you have any questions regarding these meetings.