Commercial rezoning proposal for Kelvin Community Centre lands

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This article was published 24/11/2010 (5744 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some Elmwood residents say they are concerned that the city attempted to sell a former community club site without proper notification.

Area residents say they were surprised earlier this month when they discovered a sign outside the former Kelvin Commu­nity Centre at 281 Henderson Hwy. indicating that a public hearing would be held to address an application to rezone the 14,501-sq. ft. site.

The residents say the sign was the only notification regarding the hearing, which was scheduled for Tues., Nov. 16. The date of the hearing has since been pushed back to next January.

City planner John Wintrup acknowledged that the city erred by not properly advertising the public hearing.

“The date wasn’t advertised yet and the sign went out first. It has to be adequately advertised before we can schedule a date,” said John Wintrup, adding the city recently received a request to subdivide the land from its new owner.

Martin Landry, executive director of the Elmwood Community Resource Centre, said the sale of the property could be devastating to the community’s recreational needs.

“We feel that any loss of recreation services adds to the tipping point of Elmwood,” he said. “This is another nail in the coffin.”

The sale of the Kelvin site comes nearly four years after city council decided to close the doors to the community centre despite pleas from area residents.

In January 2007, the city decided the 60-year-old facility was not worth fixing and decided to spend almost $4 million to expand nearby Bronx Park Community Club.

Regan Wolfrom, a community activist who opposed the closure of Kelvin and who is now the vice-president of Bronx Park, said he didn’t know what can be done.

“I’m certainly in favour of a group or organization working with the new landowner or developer,” he said.

During the recent civic election, none of the candidates said they would support rezoning the land for commercial use.

Coun. Thomas Steen (Elmwood-East Kildonan) said that when the matter does reach the public hearing stage next year, he will listen to every proposal before making up his mind.

“It is difficult to speak to the matter now, but obviously as we move through the public process we will be listening to residents’ concerns,” he said.

The public hearing will be held Jan. 18, 2011.

rob.brown@canstarnews.com