City councillors voted to pause any decision related to the city's Transportation Master Plan until the end of the year to provide city staff to engage in more public feedback. Mayor Linnsie Clark speaks in council chambers on Monday.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat city councillors have decided more public input is needed before moving forward regarding any decisions in the city’s Transportation Master Plan, voting to reevaluate feedback later this year.
Originally council was expected to review the TMP during the first quarter of this year.
“We’ve heard loud and clear that this needs further examinations so that’s what we’re doing,” said Coun. Bill Cocks during discussions Tuesday on a motion to delay engagement on the TMP until the fourth quarter of 2026.
Council voted unanimously on the motion that will allow the city to conduct further community engagement and gather data from the Riverside Corridor engagement and the 2026 Ipsos community survey
Coun. Dan Reynish explained the TMP will be used to help guide city growth until 2050 in terms of building new streets, sidewalks, trails systems and even removing unused bicycle lanes.
More pressing however, is the Riverside Corridor Enhancement project that aims to introduce traffic-calming measures and the expansion of pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure along the Third Street NE and NW corridor.
“This is something that is on the table, it’s on pause right now until at least next year, but it’s on the table and it’s something we want to talk about,” said Reynish. “We at the City of Medicine Hat want to work harder to talk to voters about this process and everything that’s happening to make sure you feel you have your say in what we are doing as the City of Medicine Hat, and that’s why we are putting a pause on this until we are ready to go.”
The motion will also provide staffers more time to build trust with the community and build from ongoing public education on how the city plans its transportation systems after receiving negative public feedback on recent capital projects.
“We’ve come to realize that we need to do a better job … engaging with the public and that’s our intent, to work hand in glove with the council,” said managing director Pat Bohan. “For the council to communicate with the community, to share back with the administration the challenges that the community is facing and for the administration to give the council the information as to why we are tackling different capital projects.”
Council also wants to receive data collected from a biennial community survey conducted by IPSOS, a global market research company that specializes in municipal surveys.
The survey asks local residents over the age of 18 to provide council and administration with reliable data to understand community sentiment around a variety of topics to help support decision making.
This year, Ipsos will use a randomized telephone survey with an overall sample size of 400.
“(We want to) know what people are thinking, and if the majority of people don’t want it then will address that at that time,” said Reynish.
The Transportation Master Plan and its associated strategies are based on various provincial and city statutory documents like the Municipal Government Act. It provides a framework for future planning policy direction, and an updated version will be required to plan any future capital projects.
The pause will also affect the Active Transportation Strategy and the Transportation Safety Strategy.
