This has been a dispute between the two Saskatchewan communities for years, but after much debate, the Rural Municipality (RM) of Edenvold, Sask., has officially called off the effort by White City.
White City is one of the fastest growing communities in the province, and back in 2019, they began the process of expanding their boundaries.
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But this soon became a point of contention, as they wanted to annex over 4,000 acres of land owned by the RM of Edenwold.
However, a decision made by the Saskatchewan Municipal Board on Thursday stated that the City of White City did not demonstrate a strong need for future residential development and officially lost the case.
“When you’re going after land that we’ve been developing for decades, we put our foot down and said no, we have to fight this,” said Lee Chambers, communications for the RM of Edenwold.
The Saskatchewan Municipal Board stated that White City already has an adequate supply of undeveloped residential land to last it for at least 10 to 12 years.
“White City claims they have no space and are being cordoned off, but there is actually plenty of room for development on the 400 acres White City received in 2015,” Chambers said.
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The decision was both disappointing and surprising to White City Mayor Brian Ferguson.
“We assessed what the potential consequences were and frankly, it was not one of those that was on anybody’s radar,” Ferguson said.
He feels that the White City’s growth justifies the need for more land, and while he does not know exactly when, he expects the city to seek to expand its borders again in the coming years.
“What I can say for certain is that we will not wait another eight or ten years before an application for the extension of the White City boundaries is once again back before the Assembly,” Ferguson said.
And while the two communities have and will continue to work together through the controversy, it’s hard to immediately abandon a four-year engagement after Thursday’s decision.
Discussing the area and Emerald Park in particular, Ferguson said, “I’m most concerned for the residents who really thought this was going to give them better government, better representation.”
“Obviously, it’s not a consequence in this situation.”
Now that the land dispute is over, the original development plans for both the White City and the RM of Edenwold will continue as usual.
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