Two proposed multi-million-dollar mixed-use developments that have seen delays and pushback will again be heard at city hall Friday, but may not make it past muster.
The first — a massive development on land adjacent to CF Polo Park proposed by the mall’s owner Cadillac Fairview, local developer Shindico and a Toronto developer — was delayed in early May after a move by the Winnipeg Airport Authority to invoke the name of the federal government in a letter to the province’s municipal board the night before council’s vote.
The city’s legal department recommended a deferral on the vote until the next council meeting — May 29 — after the WAA’s letter left it unclear whether the airport authority was able to object to council’s vote.
The airport authority has objected to the proposed residential development that would see nearly a dozen low-and-high rise buildings built near CF Polo Park since it first arrived at city hall last fall.
Allowing the apartment buildings would require an amendment to the Airport Vicinity Protection Area Secondary Plan, a city bylaw that limits residential builds to protect the airport’s operations and limit noise complaints.
Prior to the airport authority’s letter, the city’s public service and the mayor’s executive policy committee recommended the proposal be rejected.
A long-languishing development on the Parker Lands was rejected in split votes at two city committees last week.
Developer Andrew Marquess has owned the 47 acres since 2009 after a land swap with the city. Marquess’ company first began submitting development proposals to the city in 2011.
The latest edition of the plan, Fulton Grove, would see multi-family housing, including 12-storey rental complexes on land between the newly-open southwest transit corridor and the CN railway tracks to the north of the Parker lands near Hurst Way.
The committees voted against it following a recommendation by city staff who said, among other things, the proposal doesn’t meet the zoning regulations set out for developments built near rapid-transit stations.
Council is slated to vote on the matter Friday.
But the lawyer representing the developer has warned he may take the city back to court.
The developer won a lawsuit against the city in 2019. A Court of Queen’s Bench justice found the city in contempt after the development was indefinitely delayed and ordered city council to consider the development.
The lawyer, Dave Hill, has argued the judge’s order requires the city hold a statutory public hearing, rather than have it considered by council committees or council itself.
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