Push for heritage district, infill goal on collision course in Crescentwood

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This article was published 19/12/2022 (1036 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City council will be asked to create a second heritage conservation district in Winnipeg despite concerns that doing so could conflict with a goal to increase infill development.

A recommendation to designate Crescentwood-Enderton Park as a heritage conservation district is moving forward, after recently being approved by the city’s historical buildings and resources committee.

While the committee deleted a section that would ensure building-to-lot ratios match those of surrounding properties, the designation will otherwise aim to protect the “garden-like” setting of the original neighbourhood.

“This will attempt to maintain the look and feel of the district, so the front and side yard setbacks are proposed character-defining elements of the area,” Rina Ricci, the city’s heritage planner, told the historical buildings committee last week.

Crescentwood’s development began more than a century ago, according to a city report.

“Several buildings date from 1900 to the late 1920s, were designed by influential architects from Winnipeg, and were crafted using traditional building materials and methods from this era,” the report notes.

If council approves, the area would become the city’s second heritage district, adding to one in Armstrong’s Point. Building owners throughout the district would then require a special heritage permit to demolish or alter any character-defining element of their properties, or to add certain new structures.

However, the push to preserve the area’s buildings and lots comes as the city strives to create denser residential areas, which typically add more housing units per lot than were permitted in the past.

“You’ve got this clash of values. We’re actually going to be putting together (this) heritage conservation district at the same time that we’re going to have an Our Winnipeg plan (a key city planning document) that pushes density,” Coun. Jason Schreyer (Elmwood-East Kildonan) told the committee.

Heritage Conservation District Plan

A member of the pro-infill group Yes in my Backyard Winnipeg fears some residents may seek heritage district designations specifically to prevent new development in the future.

“I’m very wary of the spread of heritage conservation districts to residential neighbourhoods,” said Dylon Martin.

”I think that there’s an opportunity for them to be misused. I think that there’s a lot… of subjectivity (in residential areas) in what counts as historically notable versus what’s just old.”

Martin said the city should limit its approval of heritage districts.

“(Residential) heritage districts need to be used very sparingly, if at all, and there needs to be rezoning nearby them to higher densities if we’re going to use them at all,” he said. “It’s imperative for city finances, for having a workable transit system, for climate goals that we meet infill and mixed-use density targets.”

Many Crescentwood residents have lobbied for the designation, however, arguing it is needed to protect the history of a unique area.

“(These neighbourhoods) add a design element to the city, they give us a distinct look. This is probably the most intact neighbourhood of heritage homes in the city. So why not preserve it?” said Christine Skene, a member of the Crescentwood Heritage Conservation District Committee.

When asked about concerns that a heritage district could block multi-family residences from being built throughout large areas of the city, Skene said not every property is conducive to multi-family housing.

“There are parts of the city (where) density works great but you can’t just shovel a multi-family building onto every lot, it just doesn’t work. You have to look at traffic patterns and (other effects of the construction),” she said.

If the new heritage district is approved, the rules would apply to an area bounded by Stafford Street, the lane behind Kingsway Avenue, the Assiniboine River and the lane behind Yale Avenue.

Meanwhile, efforts to add two more buildings to the city’s list of historical resources, which would protect them against demolition, are also moving forward. Council’s property and development committee will soon consider those heritage designations for the former Odd Fellows Home at 4025 Roblin Blvd. and the West Kildonan Library at 365 Jefferson Ave.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga