Condo development draws wrath of community

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This article was published 20/04/2012 (4897 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A plan to redevelop the former Medicine Rock Café site in St. Francois Xavier as a condominium complex has run into stiff opposition from area residents.

Landowner and developer Peggy Van Elslander has proposed building the four-storey, 60-unit complex on the grounds of the former restaurant.

Those plans aren’t sitting too well with some area residents.

Dwayne Clark said he doesn’t want to see the Medicine Rock site turned into condos because it would ruin the pastoral beauty of the area.

“I basically live next door to this site and basically they are trying to put in a four-storey block,” he said. “My problem is that it is too large and will block the most beautiful view that we have in town.”

Clark said plans for the site, located adjacent to Ox Bow Lake near Highway 6, don’t fit with the community’s wishes.

“We have this beautiful lake view in this community and this development is just going to destroy it,” he said.

Van Elslander first presented her plan to the community last September. The original development plan was reviewed at a public hearing in November of last year.

At the time, Clarke presented a petition in opposition to the development that was signed by 200 residents. He said the level of support for the petition is an indication that it doesn’t belong in the community.

Van Elslander said the development is just what St. Francois needs and will provide more housing options for seniors and young people hoping to stay in the community.

“Honestly I believe in this project otherwise we wouldn’t be continuing with it,” she said. “There is always going to be negative opinions about developments, but there is a lot of people in the country who would be interested in living in this community.”

Van Elslander presented a revised plan to the RM in January. Clark said the revised plan is just as bad as the original.

“It just doesn’t look right in this community,” he said.

Van Elslander countered that the development is in line with the secondary development plan that has already been adopted by the RM.

The revised plan must still be presented at a public hearing. A date for the hearing is set for May 9.

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