Municipal board needs oversight

If you’ve only paid passing attention to what has become a multi-year fight over a federally funded housing project next to the Granite Curling Club, then you’d be forgiven for believing the Granite Curling Club is at grave risk.

To catch you up, the City of Winnipeg identified a plot of city-owned land next to the city-owned Granite Curling Club for a mixed-income and mixed-use housing project through the federal Housing Accelerator Fund.

The tenant on the property, the Granite Club, without any formal consultation with its membership, opposed the rezoning application because some of its 80 parking stalls would be lost and in their mind that would jeopardize the future of the club.

Public hearings took place and the application was ultimately approved.

This should be the end of the story.

It wasn’t, and what happened next should worry Manitobans. The previous provincial government, to the protests of municipalities, gave the Municipal Board increased powers to hear certain development appeals in Winnipeg. In this case, the appointed board consisted of people from Gimli, Winnipeg Beach and Winnipeg.

This panel overturned the decision of city councillors and determined that the city cannot develop their own land unless their tenant, the Granite Club, is “satisfied” with future parking plans.

This is worth repeating.

The City of Winnipeg cannot move forward with a fully funded housing project on its own land, to respond to what is widely agreed to be the most pressing crisis in our city, unless its tenant agrees on the parking plan.

This decision puts the project at risk, as the Granite’s board secretary is quoted as saying that they will accept no loss in parking.

The curling club was offered ongoing revenue (more than the developer itself would receive), dedicated parking spots and access to capital funding to ensure the club’s longevity.

Any landlord would agree this is a more than generous offer to a tenant. As a club member, I can tell you that we have never been presented with any of these options.

We have only been told repeatedly that the club is facing an existential threat.

A sensible solution already exists, as Canada Life offers their surface parking lot across the street, for free, during non-business-hours when most people curl.

This lot is both nicer and closer to the Granite Club’s entrance.

This should be of significant concern to citizens and municipal governments alike for the simple reason that the way this decision was made is undemocratic.

Consider that it takes only three unelected panel members and a round of signatures in opposition to halt any development project and that citizens and municipalities have no say in who is on the panel.

The Municipal Board pours cold water on development at a time when the federal government is poised to invest many billions of dollars into housing and other nation-building projects.

The Manitoba government is hoping for a generational investment to expand the Port of Churchill, but the City of Winnipeg is unable to even move forward with a funded, city-approved, 111-unit housing project on city land.

This type of veto power injects uncertainty into any capital project at a time when developers are feeling already uncertain by threats coming from the United States.

Where do we go from here? To start, the Granite Curling Club board should stand down from their position and accept the generous offers that have been presented to them.

This offer is good for the club, it’s good for Winnipeg and it’s a good option for the homeless individuals currently camping in the lot where this development would take place.

Beyond that, the Manitoba government should seriously rethink the role of the Municipal Board in city business.

It is encouraging that the minister’s office has committed to a review, but with billions of dollars of federal infrastructure funding on the line we’d encourage them to move faster.

A three-person unelected panel shouldn’t be able to hold Manitoba back.

Daniel Leonard is a member of Granite Members for Affordable Housing.