North Concept Plan

Background

The North Concept Plan study area is situated between the northern boundary of Saskatoon and the southern boundaries of Martensville and Warman between Highways 11, 12 and 16. The concept plan area has high growth potential and is expected to accommodate a large portion of the employment and population growth needed to reach regional targets. The goal of the North Concept Plan is to identify the future land uses, servicing components and major road networks required to support this development.

Land Use Overview

The North Concept Plan divided the plan area into four distinct planning cells defined by major transportation routes. The cells ensure a compatibility with adjacent land uses and have transitional land use buffers to minimize nuisance.

Within the cells, the high level P4G District Official Community Plan (OCP) land uses have been further defined. An example may be lands being shown as ‘rural commercial/industrial’ in the OCP, are now shown as ‘rural heavy industrial’ or ‘rural commercial’ in the North Concept Plan.

Details on the planning cells and land use framework can be found in section 4.3 in the North Concept Plan.

Depending on if the lands are in rural areas, or urban ones, different development densities, standards and servicing requirements may apply. Interim development may continue to be accommodated in future urban growth areas however, the interim rural development proposed in the short term must either be of a temporary nature or be designed to integrate with future urban land uses and infrastructure.

Collaboration between municipalities will ensure future growth and land use decisions will reflect the needs and aspirations of the region, and ensure costs and benefits are shared in a fair and equitable way.

North Concept Plan Servicing Overview

Transportation, potable water, wastewater and storm water infrastructure servicing will be coordinated as outlined in section 6 in the North Concept Plan.

Servicing recommendations are categorized as follows:

• Regional recommendations are intended to be applied across the entire plan area, regardless of whether the land is intended to be urban or rural.
• Urban recommendations are intended to be applied to the future urban growth areas, with future servicing in mind.
• Rural recommendations, while still regionally oriented, are intended to account for areas that are identified for future rural growth.

Transportation: The North Concept Plan proposes a future transportation network based on the current Township and Range grid system, with major transportation corridors and a hierarchy of arterial roadways that will support existing uses and future development.

Potable Water: In the future, portions of the plan area will be serviced by primary water mains extending from Saskatoon City limits, requiring additional fill mains, a reservoir, and water treatment capacity from a second water treatment plant. Rural areas will continue to be serviced by regional utility providers.

Wastewater: A future sanitary sewer system to service future urban areas will consist of one, continuous sanitary sewer system. Rural areas will continue to be serviced by on-site independent systems.

Drainage: The storm water system will be designed to follow the natural slope of the land, which provides the lowest cost, easiest-to-construct system complemented by a network of preserved wetlands and water bodies.  Development must maintain the existing natural sub-catchment areas and drainage paths to ensure that there are no adverse effects on upstream or downstream properties.

Utility Corridors: Corridors for infrastructure and for utilities (e.g. high pressure gas transmission and overhead electrical transmission lines) are currently established in the plan area. Given the projected population and anticipated land uses, there will be a need for utility improvements; policies in the North Concept Plan provide direction for future utility and infrastructure corridors.

Given the substantial costs for future urban servicing and transportation infrastructure, regional coordination is required to ensure the transition to future urban transportation networks, water and wastewater systems, and storm water is planned, developed, and paid for in the most cost efficient, fair, and equitable manner. The establishment of a regional cost recovery model will be a key element of achieving this, which is under review by the P4G as a priority issue.

North Concept Plan Implementation

The North Concept Plan will be used to guide land use and development decisions including proposals to rezone or subdivide land, establish discretionary uses, or amend the text of the P4G District Zoning Bylaw.  It will also be used to guide the partner municipalities’ P4G capital project priorities including regional transportation, servicing and cost recovery plans.

Some of the North Concept Plan recommendations for future work for P4G that needs to be reviewed and prioritized includes:

• Completion of additional regional servicing studies;
• Drafting design guidelines and regional municipal servicing standards;
• Establishing a regional cost recovery model;
• Future secondary planning including neighbourhood concept plans; and
• Periodic review and updates to the North Concept Plan to reflect current priorities and circumstances until the build-out of the plan area is achieved.

This work will be reviewed by the P4G partners for recommendations in the annual work plans and multi-year budget cycles.