Public hearing called for Marion Street urban village plan

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/09/2019 (2215 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A City of Winnipeg council committee gave the green light Monday for a public hearing to consider a secondary plan to transform a vast tract of vacant land on Marion Street into a mixed-development urban village.

The property and development committee approved the request for the public hearing, which will be conducted by the three councillors on the Riel community committee.

Calgary-based Olexa Developments is behind the proposal, which would result in the 165 acres (once the site of a meat-packing plant) developed into a series of residential apartments, retail and light-industrial or commercial business space.

Following the public hearing, the committee will make recommendations for council. If approved, Olexa hopes to start construction by the fall of 2020.

The only concern at the meeting was raised by a representative of a nearby rendering plant. A spokeswoman for Rothsay, located on Dawson Road, said the proposed residential neighbourhood would not be compatible with the existing meat industry in the area.

The property was the site of the Union Stockyards and later Canada Packers. The city acquired the property in the 1990s and sold it to Canad Inns, which had hoped to link development to a new football stadium.

Olexa acquired the property in 2016.

Library approved for Pan Am Pool area

City hall approved a $7.33-million contract Monday for the Bill and Helen Library to be constructed adjacent to the Pan Am Pool.

Councillors on the property and development committee awarded the contract to local builder Gateway Construction and Engineering, which had submitted the lowest of six bids

Work on the project is expected to be started in early October, and to be completed by November 2020.

The new library will replace the old River Heights branch on Corydon Avenue, and be almost twice the size (14,000 square feet compared to 8,285 sq. ft.).

Honorary Don Duguid Way

A city street will be named after local curling legend Don Duguid.

Councillors on the property and development committee Monday agreed to designate a stretch of Granite Way as Honorary Don Duguid Way.

The designation will remain in place for five years.

Duguid has been inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame, Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and, in 2013, was the first inductee into the World Curling Hall of Fame.

Duguid skipped teams to two men’s world championships and three Canadian men’s championships, and was a TV colour commentator for CBC and NBC.

An administrative report to the committee stated Duguid, “has truly played a pivotal role in transforming the sport of curling into the global enterprise it has become today by asserting Canada’s leadership in this sport.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca