News Releases

Province Proclaims Legislative Amendments to Modernize, Streamline Municipal Planning Processes

The Planning Amendment and City of Winnipeg Charter Amendment Act will come into effect Oct. 29, Municipal Relations Minister Derek Johnson announced today. 

“This legislationdelivers on our commitment to modernize and streamline planning processes, and will create more efficient, transparent and streamlined planning processes across the province,” said Johnson. “New mechanisms, such as mandated timelines for planning decisions and independent appeals systems, will help reduce delays to development while ensuring the local governments lead the decision-making process on private sector capital investment opportunities in their communities.” 

The legislation creates new rights of appeal for applicants on a wide range of local planning decisions and sets out timelines and performance standards for municipalities and planning districts to process planning applications across the province. The regional planning authority and major development agreement sections of the legislation will be proclaimed at a later date, following consultation on associated regulations before moving forward. 

The legislation is based on best practices adopted in other jurisdictions throughout Canada. The Manitoba government also undertook significant consultation with stakeholders and made a number of refinements during the legislative process to incorporate their feedback. This includes:

• aligning the legislation with similar provisions in the Planning Act to allow City of Winnipeg residents to appeal re-zonings and secondary plan bylaws;
• reducing the commencement period for most appeals to 14 days to ensure a consistent and timely decision making process; and
• requiring a comprehensive review of the amendments in the act that includes public representation three years after the legislation comes into force. 

“I want to thank all the stakeholders for taking the time to participate in more than 50 stakeholder meetings to express their views,” said Johnson. “The feedback provided was carefully considered and assessed, and changes were made to reflect and address their concerns.” 

The minister noted the department continues to consult with stakeholders through the multi-stakeholder working group as well as individual stakeholder meetings. To take part in the public consultations, visit https://engagemb.ca/municipal-appeal-process. 

Work will also be done with stakeholders to prepare guidelines to all municipalities and other stakeholders on the new planning framework, including training. Other initiatives to engage stakeholders will include draft regulations to establish the capital planning region and processes for major development projects.