Boulevard maintenance

Knowing who maintains which boulevard can be confusing. To help clarify the procedures on boulevard maintenance, we’ve put together this guide to help you determine who is responsible for different types of boulevards in Oak Bluff West.

What is a boulevard

Before we begin, it is important to note what a boulevard is. A boulevard is characterized by the portion of a road right-of-way on either side of a street. Boulevards are the segment of land between your front and/or side property line and the roadway, lane or sidewalk. The front boulevard area in Oak Bluff West is a minimum of 7.25 meters for rectangular lots, with varying depths for pie shaped lots along a curve.

Municipality maintained boulevards

The Rural Municipality of Macdonald owns all the boulevards in the municipality and maintains the ones that meet the below criteria:

• Boulevards beside a regional street (ex. Bur Oak Boulevard and Horizon Drive)
• Ditches where grass has never been planted
• Boulevards at the rear of a property adjacent to a regional street or public lane

As of 2015, the Rural Municipality of Macdonald can no longer sprays weeds as part of their boulevard maintenance, per the Manitoba non-essential pesticide use regulations under the Environmental Act.

Homeowner maintained boulevards

Boulevards that are not maintained by the municipality are the responsibility of the adjacent homeowner to look after. Although a boulevard may be bordering a resident’s property, they do not own the land because services such as public water and sewer infrastructure lay beneath it.

Property owners are responsible for the following boulevard maintenance:

• Homeowners must sod their boulevards - any other type of landscaping material is not allowed in the RM of Macdonald
• Ensuring grass is regularly cut
• Controlling noxious weeds (weeding and mowing)
• Keeping the boulevard free of garbage

To maintain a healthy boulevard, homeowners are encouraged to water the area, pull weeds by hand and only use government-approved herbicides when needed.

Below are examples of landscaping that is not allowed and landscaping that is allowed within the community:

Qualico Communities maintained boulevards

Qualico Communities initially maintains certain boulevards within our communities before they are transferred to the Municipality of Macdonald.

Boulevards maintained by Qualico Communities are mowed every 10 to 14 days and are sprayed with government-approved herbicides, if necessary, to help prevent evasive noxious weeds from spreading. As with homeowner-maintained boulevards, these boulevards are only to be sodded with grass, no other landscaping materials are allowed.

If you have any questions or concerns about a boulevard in Oak Bluff West, please reach out to us at info@oakbluffwest.ca or call 204-224-7604.