City drops objection, will process Parker housing development application

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This article was published 07/05/2018 (2895 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In an about-face, the City of Winnipeg says it won’t stop developer Andrew Marquess from submitting his proposal for a massive housing development in the Parker neighbourhood.

The developer had filed an appeal after city officials previously said they couldn’t accept the rezoning and subdivision application until a formal area plan had been approved by council.

On Monday, the property and development, heritage and downtown development committee decided it will process the rezoning and subdivision plans for the Parker project called Fulton Grove: a mix of six- to 11-storey highrises, along with single-family homes and a series of duplexes and triplexes, on 47 acres of land south of the Canadian National Railway Rivers line and west of Pembina Highway.

“We’re certainly glad the city is going to process this particular application, but the city has been stalling this particular development for a number of years now, and we fully expect that they’re going to continue to stall it regardless of what happened today,” said the developer’s lawyer, Kevin Toyne.

The proposal is for a mixed residential project, consisting of more than 1,900 units, alongside the second phase of the southwest transit corridor. Toyne said it complies with all of the city’s policies for transit-oriented development. He’s argued there is no valid or legal reason for the city not to proceed.

Earlier, Toyne alleged the city’s refusal to process the project’s application was driven by an effort to reduce the value of nearby land city hall expropriated from Marquess, and the opposition of Coun. John Orlikow, chairman of the committee. In April, the developer called on Orlikow to recuse himself from deliberations on the Parker project, saying he is biased.

On Monday, after being advised he wasn’t required to recuse himself if he had no financial interest in the property or its development, Orlikow did not step aside. As city officials changed their minds about accepting the developer’s application for the housing project, there was nothing for Marquess’s lawyer to appeal.

“The city’s obviously in damage-control mode,” said Toyne. “These applications have been in for a number of months. They should’ve been processed by now. They should’ve gone to a public hearing by now. But there seems to be no bylaw policy or procedure that the city won’t violate when it comes to this particular project.”

Toyne said he wanted the appeal to go ahead, in an effort to clear the air and prevent any further delays.

“It’s unclear what will happen next,” he said. “They wouldn’t even let us speak today. We wanted confirmation that this particular application was going to be processed properly and in a timely manner… We didn’t even get chance to ask for it.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca