Advocate fears loss of riverside access

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This article was published 23/12/2024 (297 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A green space advocate fears Winnipeggers will lose access to prime riverside areas, unless the city excludes some properties it’s eyeing for higher density housing.

“We’re worried about green space and making sure the city has enough green spaces for all of the citizens and the city’s growth,” said Dave Green, co-chair of Outdoor Urban Recreational Spaces Winnipeg.

City council recently approved significant zoning changes to make multi-family housing developments a permitted use at mall and transportation corridor sites. The changes remove the need for developers to complete potentially time-consuming zoning or variance applications and public hearings to get their projects approved.

“They’re looking at putting up to eight- to 10-storey (buildings) on these areas … We should have foresight to say these aren’t really good properties to develop on.”– Dave Green, co-chair of Outdoor Urban Recreational Spaces Winnipeg

The changes are intended to streamline the development process and trigger the creation of more residential units, which supporters say is needed to boost the city’s housing supply.

Green said his group fears the shift will lead the city to sell land along the river that could otherwise be preserved as green space, sacrificing biodiverse wildlife corridors.

“The riverside properties are properties that are hard to come by … Right now, if you have low buildings, you can still see the river. If you start putting high-rises right along the river, (that will block the view),” he said.

OURS Winnipeg said it’s also concerned the changes could entice more developers to build closer to the water, adding to existing concerns about riverbank stabilization.

“They’re looking at putting up to eight- to 10-storey (buildings) on these areas. It could create a problem down the road where, all of a sudden, these properties might have issues with erosion … We should have foresight to say these aren’t really good properties to develop on,” said Green.

As the city struggles with a tight budget, the group also fears new development will eat up green space the city can’t afford to buy back in the future.

“I think my concern is not so much development on our riverbanks but to make sure we maintain public access.”– Coun. Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan)

“It’s the loss of prime green spaces where the public can access the river now,” said Green.

The city confirmed some riverside lots along the 600 block of St. Mary’s Road would be open to that development. The changes also affect multiple riverside lots on Portage Avenue between Mandeville and Conway streets, Pembina Highway between Plaza Drive and Riviera Crescent and Osborne Street between Togo Avenue and Mulvey Avenue East.

City spokesman Adam Campbell said properties already zoned for parks are excluded from the new zoning rules and less than two per cent of lots affected by the changes directly abut the Red, Assiniboine or Seine rivers.

“Many of the sites included are already zoned in a manner that allows for higher intensity … commercial or multi-family development,” Campbell wrote in an email.

He noted developers can also choose whether or not to construct larger buildings at the sites.

Campbell said each riverside development would also require a waterway permit that assesses its impact on the riverbank.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said he doesn’t expect to alter the map of where the city aims to attract housing development right now.

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“I don’t see us making changes immediately. All of these policies inevitably get reviewed at some point … But I don’t see us opening up the malls and corridors bylaw that we’ve just adopted … any time soon,” said Gillingham.

The mayor noted the mall and corridor zoning changes do require builders to add some privately owned and publicly accessible green spaces.

Council’s finance chairman said he supports development along riverbanks but hopes the city will ensure public access continues, such as through walkways along the river.

“I think my concern is not so much development on our riverbanks but to make sure we maintain public access … Rivers are, of course, a public space and being able to have that continuity along the rivers is, I think, a desirable trait … I think it’s just good public policy,” said Coun. Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan).

The new mall and transportation corridor rules are part of major zoning changes the city has committed to implement, as part of its deal to secure $122 million from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund.

Additional changes are planned to make it easier to add up to four housing units on a single residential lot and create up to four-storey buildings near frequent transit corridors. Those have not yet been finalized.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

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