Status quo ‘unfair’: Glenwood seeks heritage status

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This article was published 08/07/2019 (2439 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FED up with the zoning appeals process, Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) is moving to block infill construction in Glenwood until the City of Winnipeg revamps its planning rules.

On Monday night, the Riel community committee took a step toward making that happen, with a 2-1 vote in favour of Mayes’ motion to make Glenwood a heritage conservation district.

“I find the status quo is simply unfair and unacceptable,” Mayes said, adding there’s at least an appearance different neighbourhoods get different treatment on zoning appeals.

Glenwood residents were outraged by an appeal committee decision in June to block the proposed splitting of a 153-foot-wide lot in Old Tuxedo. Meanwhile, there have been at least 89 lot-splits in Glenwood in the past eight years, many of which were unsuccessfully appealed.

“Circumstances created at least a public impression that some wealthier areas, that infill was not being promoted in those areas. Whereas in the Glenwood area… basically, there’d been a tremendous number of appeals, almost all of which had been lost by the Glenwood Neighbourhood Association,” Mayes said.

The motion won’t likely make it to city council until September, via the property and planning committee Mayes chairs.

Armstrong’s Point is currently the city’s only heritage conservation district, though Crescentwood has also been nominated. The status comes with special policies on building alterations or demolitions, infill construction and setbacks.

Mayes said more will need to be done to standardize infill rules, but this motion is a stopgap.

“We’ve got to have one set of rules here, for everybody in the city,” he said.

As Mayes finished arguing for his motion, seven members of the Glenwood Neighbourhood Association watching from the gallery clapped.

“What happens now, it’s basically random,” association member Tim Higgins said. “We’re left with the situation where we have to come and appeal every single one. Because nothing seems to be working — until today.”

Organization chairwoman Pam St. Godard called the motion a positive step forward. But she said it’s been “a very tough road,” as community members mobilize to oppose more and more proposed infill developments — from a few 10 years ago, to 25 last year alone.

St. Godard said the Glenwood association members are not “NIMBYs,” they’re “QIMBYs”: asking for “quality in my backyard.”

In January, it got 600 signatures on a petition seeking a moratorium until planning guidelines can be updated.

Coun. Matt Allard (St. Boniface) voted against the motion Monday, and spoke against it “in the strongest possible terms.”

Allard cited one example in the southeast Winnipeg neighbourhood where a dilapidated home was torn down and two duplexes were built in its place, paying 10 times as much in property taxes with no infrastructure improvements required from the city.

“Infill isn’t a ‘sacrifice’ or something communities must endure for the greater good,” Allard said. “Change will come to Glenwood, as it will to all neighbourhoods in Winnipeg. Our choice isn’t between change and not change; our choice is what kind of change we want.”

Riel committee chairman Coun. Markus Chambers (St. Norbert-Seine River) supported the motion, allowing it to go ahead to the property committee in the fall.

“It’s incumbent upon us to get these decisions right,” Chambers said.

Glenwood is approximately bounded by Fermor Avenue Caton Street, the Seine River and St. Mary’s Road/Ste. Anne’s Road.

tvanderhart@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @tessavanderhart