Northgate Shopping Centre housing development too big for area, neighbourhood opponents say

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/04/2023 (879 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A residential development planned for the Northgate Shopping Centre is being pitched as a promising infill project but some of its neighbours are fighting to stop it over concerns about traffic congestion, parking woes and safety hazards.

In February, city council approved a proposal from Northgate’s owners. The development would add three apartment buildings with a combined 204 housing units. It would preserve the current shopping centre, and add a “sharing library” with books, films and tools, as well as a rental hall, daycare, new pedestrian paths, rooftop amenity space and a main-floor playground.

“Our experience tells us that apartments that are walkable to retail and services are now most desired and this amenity or proximity is now categorized as a luxury…. The benefits are obvious,” said Ken Lee, who spoke on the developer’s behalf at a January West Kildonan Community Committee hearing.

Lee said the location offers a school, potential workplaces at the mall, stores and Winnipeg Transit stops within walking distance and could offer a “precedent-setting model” that helps the city create more “complete communities.”

However, more than a dozen residents have signed up to appeal the project, arguing it’s too large and would add to existing traffic congestion.

“(The development) doesn’t fit where they want to put it. (These) residential streets were never designed to handle, potentially, hundreds more cars in a day… I think increasing the density as (far as) what’s being proposed, is the problem,” said Doug Panchuk, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 35 years.

“Maybe, as a community, we would support 100 new residents in the area. But the scope that it’s at, in my opinion, is too large because it will bring about too much traffic.”

If upheld, the city’s approval would permit the construction of three buildings — nine, seven and six storeys tall — with variances reducing the minimum yard space and parking required around the structures.

“Why is the City of Winnipeg so willing to keep bending the rules? If the developers want to build a project, build it within the limits that exist… (Instead) they want to push things closer to the street, they want to squeeze in more,” said Panchuk.

He believes construction would create road-safety risks, particularly at times of the day when students are being dropped off and picked up at a nearby school.

It could also make parking scarce, since there’s no guarantee residents would give up their cars to use transit, and some stalls are set to be shared by shopping centre visitors and complex residents, he said.

“This isn’t the right place. It’s not because it’s in my backyard. It’s because it’s not the safest place for a development of this size,” he said.

Infill advocacy group Yes in my Backyard Winnipeg is urging residents to support the project, arguing it would help meet a city goal to build more homes that rely on existing infrastructure.

“This is… the type of location that we want more housing in, these types of already built-up areas. It’s a significant number of units through three apartment buildings and that is important, as we’re seeing a falling rental vacancy rate in Winnipeg,” said group member Dylon Martin.

The development would offer new residents easy access to bus routes, potentially boosting Winnipeg Transit ridership, and help the municipal government raise more property tax dollars, Martin said.

“It’s… better to have these sorts of dense developments, where some people can take transit, where not everyone has to drive for every trip,” he said.

The city’s appeal committee will hear the matter Wednesday.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga