Lemay Forest saga continues

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/03/2024 (552 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I have to say there are days when I read about the behaviour of Winnipeg’s land developers and wonder at their sheer audacity. First came the Parker Lands debacle where a development company, Gem Equities owned by Andrew Marquess, mowed down an entire forest in advance of city development approval then turned around and sued the city for unreasonable delays in the approval process.

And won.

Now, we have another developer, Tochal Developments, represented by former city planner, John Wintrup, demanding that the city either purchase their Lemay property — an intact 22 acre forest situated on land owned by Tochal — or approve the development project they’ve submitted to the city.

Turns out they haven’t actually submitted a major development project to the city. In fact the only thing on the books is a request from the company to demolish a perfectly serviceable residential home, adjacent to their land, which has houses on either side of it.

Despite that Mr. Wintrup was quoted in this newspaper saying that Tochal will take the city to court if they don’t buy the land or provide a permit for the house demolition.

In that article, Wintrup also neglected to say that the city recently assessed the land’s value at $2.9 million, due to lack of services, and that in mid-March, Tochal received an offer of $3 million for the forested property via a financial collaboration between the federal government, Manitoba Heritage and Habitat Corp. and the Manitoba Métis Federation, in consultation with the city.

An offer double the $1.5 million Tochal paid for the land a little over six years ago.

Had that offer been accepted, the 22 acre hardwood forest would then have been transferred to the city to be preserved as naturalized parkland.

So did Tochal refuse the offer? And if so, why?

Well, it may have something to do with the fact that six years ago, the company’s assessor placed the property value at $6 million. Which is more than a bit shocking, given that the land has no sewage or hydro services and no legal point of entry. Hence the proposed house demolition, presumably to provide access for future construction.

Not to mention the fact that the city sewer system in the surrounding area is already stretched to the max and the land is situated on a flood plain.

So is an asking price four times the original selling price a reasonable expectation on Tochal’s part?

I’ll let you answer that question.

The other issue is this — Tochal could, in theory, follow the lead of the Parker Lands developer and make a point to the city by mowing down every one of the estimated 9,000 to 14,000 mature trees on that site prior to any development submission or approval and not pay a single dollar in penalties.

This, at a time when the city is trying to expand, not reduce, its tree canopy.

So my question is this — when will council decide it will no longer be held hostage by chainsaw-wielding developers?

At what point will councillors acknowledge they have a responsibility to act in the interests of all citizens by enacting bylaws that prevent the wholesale destruction of mature trees and the few remaining intact forests on private land.

Especially when, thanks to climate change, we’ll be facing more heat waves and flooding which would be mitigated by those forests.

If council doesn’t act, I’ll continue to get calls like the one I received a few weeks ago from a frantic homeowner who lives just across the river from the Lemay, in a home adjacent to another privately owned forest on the old Damon farm site.

Apparently, a contractor was not only mowing down trees to build a dirt road through the forest but was also illegally dumping truckload after truckload of fill in an area that had once been, and is no longer, a monarch butterfly habitat. Land that’s also adjacent to an eagle nesting site.

To make matters worse, homes in that neighbourhood rely on well water, with no access to city water, and if fill dumping had continued, their ground water wells may have been placed at risk.

Ironically, the fill was coming from another development at the University of Manitoba where their property arm is currently building, and I quote, “a sustainable” housing project.

Honestly folks, you can’t make this stuff up.

So if you think we need reasonable bylaws governing the protection of mature trees on private land, as outlined in the city’s own 20 year urban forestry strategy, then contact your councillor and tell them that. Because without those bylaws, we’ll continue to lose tens of thousands of trees to development and construction.

Erna Buffie is a writer and filmmaker. To read more go to https://www.ernabuffie.com/