New housing development in St. Boniface approved

St. Boniface

St. Vital

The Riel community committee held a lengthy meeting on Sept. 4.

A public hearing for a combined rezoning and variance application for a vacant property at the southwest corner of Rue Aubert and Rue St. Joseph was held, to allow for a seven-storey, 115-unit multifamily development. The property is currently zoned R2 residential, while the application would rezone it to RMF-L for high density multifamily. The public service recommended approval, with a capped building height of seven storeys, and that an arborist be hired to protect mature trees on or adjacent to the property. The proposal includes 121 parking stalls, but no visitor parking. The property is near transit, and bicycle parking would be included.

Nearly a dozen neighbourhood residents spoke in opposition to the proposal. Kathleen McMillan, who spoke first, said the group were not “NIMBYs,” but rather they wanted any new development to fit within the neighbourhood.

“The charm of the area will be significantly downgraded by the presence of a monumental, monolithic-sized building which does not provide the appropriate street setbacks,” she said. “(It) does not respect our beautiful and historic St. Boniface area … We are a condo community, and that tends to take on a different milieu than, say, apartment blocks.”

Concerns about increased traffic, lack of street parking, safety, and more were raised.

The application was approved, with a number of conditions, including that 25 suites would be three-bedroom units and a car-share option would be included on-site. Plans for the development will also need to be approved by the committee before construction can begin, and traffic calming measures on Rue Aubert should be installed.

A public hearing for a combined subdivision, rezoning, and variance at 45 Daman Farm Rd., 100 Jean Louis Rd., and 2974 St. Mary’s Rd. was also held. The lots are currently zoned rural residential within a medium density area. The applicant intends to create 23 rural residential lots of two-to-three acres in size. However, the public service recommended, owing to ground water concerns, that residential lots in the area be restricted to five acres in size or larger.

The proponent argued that five-acre lots would not be feasible, given costs and other associated concerns, and proposed using water cisterns rather than wells, and septic tanks, rather than septic fields. Further, the proponent argued that there are a number of two-acre lots within the area, so the development would not be out of character.

A half-dozen people registered to speak in opposition. Their concerns included the risks of compromised wells should development move forward as proposed, along with alleged lack of consultation, among others.

The committee did not concur with the public service, and voted to forward the matter to the standing policy committee on property and development. A draft motion will be submitted regarding inspection and enforcement of conditions, regarding no new wells and the use of cisterns.

During the regular meeting, a community incentive grant for $5,000 was approved for the Nanaksar Satsang Sabha Inc., for barrier-free washrooms and showers. Land dedication reserve funding of $2,600 was granted to replace signage for the renaming of Berkley Square Park to Dawn McEwen Park, while $2,200 in land dedication reserve funds were approved for the renaming of Lindenwood Drive West Park to Kaitlyn Lawes Park. All three were from the St. Vital ward fund. Funding from the land dedication reserve ($28,000) was also approved for new soccer goals at Caring Cross, from the St. Norbert-Seine River ward.

Plans for a three-unit multifamily residence at 533 Bourgeault St. was approved by the committee.

The committee also passed a motion to extend transit transfer time to 90 minutes, as it has been noted that the 75 minutes currently allotted is not enough, considering the new transit system relies more heavily on transfers than the previous system.