Perspective: 'Hood-winked?

A new 'burb the size of Brandon was precisely what Winnipeg home builders wanted to see, given a shortage of lots in the city's highly desirable southwest quadrant. The Doer government stood to gain from the transaction because it owned about half the land and could garner two forms of revenue: short-term cash from the sale and future education taxes.

But for the City of Winnipeg, then led by urbanist mayor Glen Murray, a massive new suburb wasn't an easy sell. Although a pair of studies suggested the city could make anywhere from $74 million to $228 million from Waverley West in the form of future property taxes and building permits, the mere idea scared civic politicians concerned about everything from long-term road-maintenance costs to the effect on inner-city revitalization to a pre-existing need to develop other suburban areas, most notably South Charleswood.

But the Doer government promised Waverley West would be unlike any suburb Winnipeg had ever seen before. Streets would be laid out to encourage pedestrian traffic, with more bike trails and parks than regular 'burbs. A wide variety of homes, with garages at the side, would be designed to encourage face-to-face contact between neighbours.

The entire subdivision could feature environmentally friendly geothermal heating, a "town centre" to reduce the need to drive anywhere, and a future extension of Kenaston Boulevard to give pedestrians easy access to this commercial development, thanks to a pair of flyovers. To top it off, $20 million in provincial profits would be used to fund inner-city housing and revitalization projects.

Six years later, roughly 75 homes are either occupied or under construction in Waverley West, including some featuring the "new urbanist" design principles originally touted by the province.

But plans for geothermal heating have been dramatically scaled back, the flyovers are no more, and the inner-city funding has been reduced by two-thirds.

Now, as the projected costs of extending roads, sewers and water mains into Waverley West begin to show up in city budgets, the suburb under construction no longer resembles the suburb the province originally promoted.

"The way they did it was sort of, 'In your wildest dreams, and if you had an unlimited amount of money, what would you do?' And that's the hype that kind of got out there," said city council finance chairman Justin Swandel, whose St. Norbert ward includes Waverley West.

"When you drill down to reality, that wasn't actually what happened."

If you had to tally up a list of Waverley West's successes and failures, only the fact new homes are going up, including some featuring "new urbanist" design, stands out as a clear success.

The geothermal-heating plan died early in 2008 when the government learned what city engineers already knew: Southwest Winnipeg sits above a pool of salt water that must be pumped back underground when you dig geothermal-heating tunnels. Pumping the salt water out added to the already hefty initial cost of geothermal heat. Now, only a quarter of the homes are earmarked for geothermal.

The pair of flyovers were nixed in the summer of 2006 when the city and province reached a $38-million deal to build a Kenaston Boulevard extension (now pegged at about $60 million). The flyovers would have added $26 million to the project.

At that time, the province reduced to $7.5 million the $20-million contribution for the inner city, though the province says some of the original $20 million was meant to help the city offset infrastructure costs.

University of Manitoba architecture dean David Witty, host of an early brainstorming session, said it's a little premature to judge the suburb. But, he said, there are none of the shops, apartments and mixed-used buildings that make a neighbourhood a complete community.

On a micro level, Waverley West is better than Whyte Ridge or Linden Woods. The houses look a little different, and there are sidewalks and lots of parks. Unfortunately, the broad design condemns it to be a car-bound suburb like all the others, said Witty.

But the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corp., the government land-development office that's spearheading Waverley West, says the suburb has many features buyers can't find in any other new development.

Dwayne Rewniak, MHRC's land development director, said there are 35 hectares of green space that snake through the suburb. Many of the area's mature trees have been saved and more are being planted. Most streets have sidewalks. Strict design rules have limited the number of "snout houses" -- homes with protruding two-car garages.

In an effort to avoid the beige, cookie-cutter appearance of suburbs with only a few styles of houses, the province has asked several home builders to each design a handful of homes. In true "new urbanist" style, many of the homes have a Wolseley-ish feel, with siding, white-trimmed porches and gable windows.

"There are many elements of this that will be subtle and seen over time, more by residents living there than by people walking by," added Paul McNeill, vice-president of the MMM Group, a consulting firm that conducted several Waverley West studies.

"You're just beginning to see it now as the streets fill in."

Civic politicians are also beginning to see the hard costs of creating the suburb. The feedermain to carry water in will cost $11 million. The main sewer pipe will cost $4.6 million. The tab for community centres, policing and fire protection is $39 million. And along with the $60-million Kenaston extension, there are plans to widen Waverley Street, extend Bison Drive and improve other components of southwest Winnipeg's transportation network at a cost of more than $300 million, not including the $327 million southwest bus corridor former mayor Murray hoped would service the new suburb.

The capital costs of the suburb are undeniably higher than the $119 million projected in 2004, when the city and province conducted a pair of cost-benefit analyses that came up with widely different earning projections: the city predicted $74 million over 60 years, while the province envisioned $228 million over 23 years.

"Any peripheral development is never cost-neutral," said architect Steve Cohlmeyer, an early critic of Waverley West. "The cost of servicing everything -- libraries, schools as well as the obvious infrastructure systems -- is very high."

Provincial Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen, whose Fort Whyte riding includes Waverley West, suggests Winnipeggers may have been snookered.

The Doer government overhyped the greenness of Waverley West in part because it knew it was vulnerable on two fronts: Critics could and did slam the province for promoting urban sprawl at the expense of the downtown, and there has always been the risk the city and the province would lose money.

"What Manitobans are getting is not as advertised," McFadyen said.

In response, Manitoba Housing Minister Gord Mackintosh said it's too soon to judge Waverley West, especially since some of the suburb's best features -- high-density condos and apartments, commercial areas, good transit connections -- are still to come.

"I think all the early signals point to a successful development," he said. "We're only two years into a 20-year project, remember."

The first homes started going up in Waverley West in 2008. The suburb may not be built out until 2028, when metropolitan Winnipeg's population is expected to reach 900,000.

As a result, city councillor Swandel agreed it's too early to predict if Waverley West will fulfil its initial promise.

"We look to government to be innovative at times, and I think that's what the province of Manitoba was trying to do here," he said, recalling the initial sales pitch.

"Time will tell whether or not they've been successful."

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

Waverley West then & now

Cost projections in 2004

$228 million

The Doer government's original estimate for city property taxes and building permits generated by Waverley West during the first 23 years of the suburb's existence.

$74 million

The city's original estimate of its earnings from Waverley West during the first 60 years of the suburb's existence.

$119 million

Original estimate of the total cost of building, expanding and extending roadways in and around Waverley West, extending water and sewer service into the suburb and building new facilities such as community centres, libraries and fire and police stations.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 15, 2009 B1