Neepawa Council Debrief: Sewers and Subdivisions

Discussions at the Neepawa Town Council meeting this week focused on a few main topics, including the ongoing problem of grease in the sewer lines, the governance of the County Courthouse, and a traffic impact study regarding the subdivision for the new vocational high school.

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The public works department has several items on the go right now, and Manager of Operations Denis Saquet reports that phase I of the Hamilton Street extension excavation is complete and they are working with consultants to lay out their needs for the next phase before they issue tenders for the work. They have also secured plenty of cold mix to do some pothole patching and just need some favourable weather as they have to be dry to be patched.

The biggest item they are dealing with is the continued disposal of grease into the residential sewer system, at volumes that are not only plugging residential lines but are enough to plug a sewer main. The town will be looking at implementing some costly fines for violations in the near future, as the cost of clearing the lines and in some cases repairing them can be substantial. They are also looking at additional investigative equipment and will be looking to recoup that cost through fines.

There has been a lot of conversation over the past year or so around the County Courthouse, which is located on Hamilton Street in Neepawa. Responsibility for the courthouse is laid out in The Beautiful Plains County Buildings Act, which was reviewed over the past few months. When it was originally written, the Town of Neepawa, RM of Langford (now Municipality of North Cypress-Langford), and RM or Rosedale each had a one-third share of all expenses and rents related to the building. The review determined that that arrangement should remain unchanged, and the three municipalities should share joint and equal responsibility for the historic site.

Tabled from the last meeting was a decision about signing the memorandum of understanding from the Rossburn Subdivision Trail Association until further research could be done around liability issues. It was determined that the deductible for the town would be only $5,000 rather than the $25,000 they feared, and only payable if they were deemed liable for the incident. The MOU lays our responsibilities for the municipality that align with what they are already doing, so Council was in favour of signing.

There are several municipalities, including the Town of Neepawa, that are partners in Evergreen Environmental Technologies Corporation, a Class 1 Waste Management Facility located to the east of Neepawa on PR 466. Because of the increased traffic on that road over the past few years, it has deteriorated to the point that it has at times been unsafe to travel on. The town is joining the rest of the partners in sending a letter to the province asking them to repair and upgrade the road “to a reasonable standard” to make it safe and fit for purpose for the environmental facility.

Finally, as part of the conditional approval for the subdivision designated for the new vocational high school, which was announced in 2023 although it has been delayed since that time, the town needed to conduct a traffic impact study. That study has now been completed and has indicated that the increased traffic, as well as other compounding factors related to the location, will mean that the access to Broadway Avenue from Highway 16 will need to be closed. It’s important to note that this will not happen in the short term. Construction on the school will not begin until 2026 at the earliest, and the access will not need to close until the school is opened. At that time, the Hamilton Street extension will be completed and an alternative access near the new hospital will be available.

Also covered were the final deliberations of the finance committee for 2025, updating the tax sale resolution, and identifying this year’s priority projects for the water services board, most of which revolve around the new Project 320 subdivision.