A report commissioned by Winnipeg is recommending repurposing 30 per cent of city-owned golf courses.
In 2020, The Public Service issued a Request for Proposals and hired HTFC Inc. which produced two reports that address golf land repurposing.
“HTFC evaluated the site conditions, identified recreational gaps in the immediate area, and reviewed the Indigenous history of each golf course.” the report reads.
“Once the due diligence was completed, HTFC outlined a variety of general repurposing options for all City courses and then proposed site-specific opportunities.”
The recommendation was included in the Multi-Year Operating and Capital Budget and at the time, ten of the 12 City courses were deemed to be in scope, including:
- Assiniboine Golf Course
- Canoe Club Golf Course
- Crescent Drive Golf Course
- Harbour View Golf Course
- St. Boniface Golf Club
- Transcona Golf Club
- Tuxedo Golf Course
- Wildewood Club
- Windsor Park Golf Course
There are a variety of ideas for how to best utilize the land – including walking trails around the courses, winter activities in the off-season, building homeless shelters, or repurposing areas to highlight and acknowledge Indigenous stories.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham told 690 CJOB on Monday the one thing that is not an option right now is turning the courses into residential developments.
“This report was called for back in 2020 and it’s just getting to us now. In the meantime, between 2020… we also made a decision as a council to add a thousand acres of green space over the coming years…. we want to be preserving our green space and in fact adding more.”
Gillingham said the report is all about how the city can maximize the use of these public lands, such as finding a way to make them useable in the winter.
“Right now our golf courses, when you think of it, the only people really that can access them are those who pay to golf well we know we can do more and it doesn’t take much to think very creatively to look at other options and other recreation options for people.”
“The pandemic saw a resurgence in golf. What remains to be seen is whether that level of interest is going to be sustained in the long term and in the coming years.”
City council will decide the next steps when the report goes before the standing policy committee and property development on Thursday.