5,000 beds, 5,000 parking spots: plan for Lemay Forest land seeks to check city housing boxes

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This article was published 12/01/2024 (645 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A developer seeking to construct a 5,000-bed assisted living facility at the privately owned Lemay Forest says the project’s ample size reflects community feedback.

John Wintrup, a planner for Tochal Development Group, said the proposed 2,500-unit complex with 5,000 parking spaces (surface and underground) would fit within the 22.5-acre property.

It also will not preserve the existing urban forest on that south Winnipeg land — an issue that has been repeatedly brought before city officials by green space advocates.

“It’s going to be a four-storey building, 54 feet tall. That covers a lot (of space)… Residents told us they were concerned about us not having enough parking… This is two parking stalls per unit. The requirement for that is actually quite (a bit) less, but everyone was telling me about concerns due to lack of parking,” Wintrup said Friday.

“People didn’t want to see the building, so we’re (also) putting up a 10-foot fence around it.”

The site would generate 5,700 total vehicle trips per day and would not preserve existing trees or add new vegetation, he added.

Amid public questions about the scale of the project, Wintrup said the units are relatively small, in part because they don’t have individual kitchens.

He said a previous alternative construction option has now been ruled out, which would have added 2,475 housing units, split between several buildings ranging from four to 16 stories tall, with 1,051 parking stalls.

That option aimed to save 33 per cent of the property’s urban forest and green space.

“We put forward a Ferrari of an idea and everybody took out a hammer and beat it down to a Pinto.”–John Wintrup

“We put forward a Ferrari of an idea and everybody took out a hammer and beat it down to a Pinto… We got such negative feedback,” said Wintrup.

Since October, many St. Norbert residents have lobbied levels of government to buy the land — located next to the southwest shores of the Red River, east of 35 De La Digue Ave., west of 100 Villa Maria Pl. and north of the homes at 819-915 Lemay Ave. — to stop any potential development.

A coalition aiming to protect the trees has said the popular urban forest offers recreation, wildlife habitat, drainage and other benefits that must be permanently protected.

However, Wintrup said, the opposition also thwarted efforts to delve into details of the Tochal development plan during multiple public consultations.

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“Nobody liked a single thing that we showed them… All they just told us is, ‘We hate this idea. We hate everything about it and we want you to keep it as a forest.’”

Wintrup said the development will support City of Winnipeg goals to boost housing and allow residents to “age in place” in more communities. He expects it would be eligible for federal housing dollars, since it meets a goal to create housing within 800 metres of the Winnipeg Transit Blue rapid transit line.

The development application was submitted to the city Thursday.

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.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.