Council votes to delay Polo Park residential development
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This article was published 11/05/2020 (2206 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A residential housing development near CF Polo Park Shopping Centre has been delayed.
Winnipeg City Council voted to delay their decision on changing development restrictions in the area. Council voted on May 5 to delay the decision by a month.
The decision was influenced by a letter from the Winnipeg Airports Authority, seeking a review of changes to the city’s Airport Vicinity Protection Area, which restricts residential development around the airport.
In their letter, sent to Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West), the WAA said the airport authority has the right to appeal to the municipal board “in the name of the government of Canada.”
“Unfortunately, we have come to the conclusion that the current city process has not and will not allow for a proper, reasoned discussion on this critical issue,” WAA CEO Barry Rempel wrote in the letter.
Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) moved for the decision to be pushed back, citing potential legal issues if council proceeded with the vote.
The WAA letter stated said it has the right to appeal the decision with the Manitoba Municipal Board in the name of the federal government.
“I think our legal department has not had sufficient time to review this,” Mayes said when putting the motion forward. “We don’t know if we can proceed quite frankly, we have to get our legal department to tell us if that was a valid and legally binding objection.”
The motion passed 11-4.
The City delayed the vote to clarify whether or not the WAA has the privilege to bypass council.
“What is unclear from the letter is whether the government of Canada has given legal authority to the Winnipeg Airports Authority to make an objection to the proposed bylaw,” Doug Brown, city solicitor, wrote in his report.
Mayor Brian Bowman said the city has rules about speaking about the matter and declined to comment about the move by the WAA.
“I know there are number of parties who have a keen interest in this particular vote and I will just remind everybody, whether it’s the province, the developer, the airport, members of council — we have rules governing hearing processes at city hall that do not allow members of council, including myself to consider new information and we need to follow those rules,” Bowman told reporters after the council meeting.