The head of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities says the release of Bill 37 indicates the province is listening.

The bill makes some small changes or concessions to municipalities according to AMM president Ralph Groening.

Under the original Bill 48, the province could arrange and mandate certain municipalities to be part of regional planning district without consultation. Groening says the new Bill 37 shows some movement on that front.

"I believe now the new bill does acknowledge our concerns and municipalities will be consulted before they participate in a planning district and we're grateful for that."

The original bill appeared to be aimed primarily at Winnipeg. The province indicated last year that it intended to develop some new regulations to address some of the criticism the city has received over its permits and inspections departments.

Under the Planning Amendment and City of Winnipeg Charter Amendment Act the province would create a capital planning region around Winnipeg which would include the communities surrounding it. Also, significant changes would be made to the way land-use decisions are made, not just in Winnipeg, but to other municipalities in the province. One of those changes would allow property owners to appeal municipal council decisions on things like subdivision approvals, re-zonings and secondary plans to an un-elected municipal board. Municipal officials feel that move would erode their autonomy.

"Local people know their communities best and so we absolutely need to have another hard look at the appeal process and the involvement of and the scope of the municipal board rulings," said Groening.

The province has acknowledged the need to develop guidelines to limit the scope of appeals as well as create mechanisms to mitigate frivolous appeals to not clog the system but has suggested those issues could be covered in regulation.

"We would like that written into the bill itself. That's one of the concerns we still have."

Portage la Prairie Reeve, Kam Blight, will transition into the role of AMM president, effective November 24.