Residents pin hopes on new vision for Point Douglas

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This article was published 21/05/2024 (523 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of Winnipeg’s oldest neighbourhoods is set to chart a new vision for its future.

Point Douglas residents will be consulted over the next few months to help create a neighbourhood plan, which will guide development.

The head of a local residents group hopes that will help the area become less industrial and add homes and services, while still respecting its character.

“We’d like to see most of the industrial (use) out of there… We’re putting a lot of emphasis on the environment, diversity, services, maintaining our housing stock. We don’t want to see a whole bunch of fourplexes go in,” said Catherine Flynn, chairwoman of the Point Douglas residents committee.

Despite wanting more homes, Flynn urged the city to avoid creating large buildings on the smallest lots over concerns “edge-to-edge” construction would destroy many mature trees and green spaces.

Her wish list includes new park and green spaces without “pricing out” current residents from their homes.

“We want to keep the character of the neighbourhood… It’s beautiful and we have some gorgeous heritage homes,” she said.

The neighbourhood plan would include new rules about where buildings can be constructed and what they would look like, which would be imposed by a secondary plan bylaw. The city says that could help ensure a variety of housing options is in place, new homes are compatible with current ones, parks and amenities are within walking distance of residences and that the neighbourhood develops as a walkable, bikeable and transit-oriented community.

For example, the city could set maximum heights and minimum buffer zones for some buildings and determine the type and scale of residential construction, said James Platt, a senior City of Winnipeg planner.

Platt said that could help the area prepare for major changes that are already on the way.

“The timing of this plan is ideal, with (a) future bus rapid transit route being planned along Sutherland Avenue, also with the federal government (providing Winnipeg funding) related to accelerated housing development,” he said.

The planner said the vast majority of South Point Douglas is zoned for industrial use. Part of its long-term change could eventually be similar to the transformation of Waterfront Drive, if residents, developers and council commit to a similar shift toward housing and commercial space.

“This could really change Point Douglas, much as it did Waterfront Drive… (but) it’s not going to happen overnight,” said Platt.

Current city rules don’t allow new residential units in some parts of Point Douglas, which a secondary plan could change, he said.

“The reason for that is to ensure that we have capacity: roads, sewers, water, drainage (to support development). (It is) also to ensure that we have rules to ensure that this also happens… appropriately,” said Platt.

Point Douglas Coun. Vivian Santos, whose ward contains South Point Douglas, said she hopes the plan helps the city eventually add thousands of new housing units to the area.

“A lot of the land in South Point Douglas remains vacant and underutilized… This is a huge densification target for Winnipeg,” said Santos.

She said changes could make it much easier to transform industrial properties into housing, artist spaces and mixed-use commercial/residential buildings. Expensive variance applications are presently required to make such changes, since the area isn’t zoned to allow much of that construction, which has prevented some old warehouses from being converted into residences, said Santos.

“The only way we could convert a lot of these industrial lands to residential or mixed-used commercial was to do a secondary plan,” she said.

The councillor hopes shifting more land from industrial to residential zones would also reduce the number of vacant properties that can be targeted for illegal dumping and arson.

“The residents are tired of having Point Douglas known as a dumping ground and we need to really revitalize the neighbourhood… This is going to change the landscape, the area and just beautify the area,” said Santos.

She also hopes to see more green space and expand active transportation.

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Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie, whose ward contains North Point Douglas, said many residents would like to reduce industrial space. Eadie said he’s also interested in boosting the supply of multi-family homes, which he hopes would make housing in the area more affordable.

City staff expect to propose a secondary plan for council to consider in the first quarter of 2025.

A consultant will be paid $400,000 to develop the detailed plan, which will be covered by the Canada Community-Building Fund (federal gas tax dollars).

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.