City councillors reject proposed new Main Street Earls restaurant

WINNIPEG — The city’s downtown development committee on Friday rejected a plan to build a new Earls Main Street restaurant with a tie vote.

Earls has been located at Main Street and York Avenue for 21 years and was seeking approval to build a new restaurant on the surface parking lot next to the current building. Councillors on the committee split the vote on the Earls proposal 2-2, which means the plan was rejected.

A city regulation passed in 2014 says new downtown buildings must not be less than three stories high; the proposed new restaurant was only one storey.

City planners said the area is meant to be dense but intense, and a single-storey building does not meet that requirement.

“If we allow this, then it’ll be hard for us to turn down a one-storey Dollarama on Main Street,” said planner Kurtis Kowalke. “This looks more like a pad design fit for McGillivray, not downtown.”

The new building would have been built on the current customer parking lot, reducing the number of parking spots by 30.

City councillors asked architect Judith McDougall and Earls staff, who attended the downtown development committee meeting, if the design could change so parking was behind the restaurant or in a parkade. Earls doesn’t plan to do that.

“This is a very big decision we’re making,” said Coun. Jenny Gerbasi. “We made the regulation to help develop our downtown. If we allow this one, then what’s the point?”

Coun. John Orlikow agreed but councillors Jeff Browaty and Brian Mayes said they support the development and want to see it go ahead.

The vote was tied 2-2, meaning it’s automatically denied.