The Lance
November 24, 2004
By Elisha Cumbers
At least 75 fighting mad residents of Lindenwoods wasted their time showing up for a City Centre community committee meeting Nov. 16.
They came to protest a development proposal from builders Randall Homes and Genstar Development that would see condominiums built on a site previously designated for school construction.
However, Coun. Donald Benham delayed the proceedings, saying Genstar and the community first needed to meet informally to discuss the project.
“It got pretty emotional in there,” said resident Ken Zushman of the meeting.
“Things were heated.”
Larry Dolmar, who lives on the edge of the site, said the proposed housing won’t fit with the rest of the neighbourhood.
“(Genstar says) putting the multi-family housing will fit in fine and not reduce property values, but I don’t see how that’s possible when it’ll be surrounded by single family housing on all sides.”
Concerned about frontage, design and population density in the plan, Dolmar collected 176 signatures from his neighbours in two days.
That petition will have to wait because presentations will not be accepted until the community committee meeting of Dec. 14.
“We’re fighting a multi-million dollar corporation,” said Dolmar. “It’s a tough fight.”
Prairie Rose School Division decided recently that the five-acre site provided by the developer for a school is too small.
“Genstar probably knew that the site would be too small to build a school,” Dolmar said, “but the people along here who bought houses bought them with the understanding that a school would be built at the site.”
Genstar vice-president Jerry Klein said he’s surprised by the negative reaction of the residents. “We thought the development would fit in nicely with the surrounding neighbourhood. We’re very proud of our proposal,” he said.
“I think there’s a lot of miscommunication and misconceptions out there,” he added.
“After the meeting was cancelled, we opened our display materials and a lot of people were surprised and said, ‘Oh, so that’s what you’re putting in, I was told this and I was told that...’
“I think a lot of people went away from that meeting satisfied their concerns were met. Looking at the way the land is zoned... we could have put in 126 units in there,” he said.
“We are proposing 42, which is very low density… complimentary to the neighbourhood…”
In an e-mail sent to Zushman, Klein promised to provide “ample notification to as many residents as possible of the date and time that we will conduct an informational meeting requested by Coun. Benham.”
As for school or parkland, Klein said he has no control over what land the city purchases or uses for school or parkland.
Benham said he delayed the presentations because he, too, felt there was a lot of misunderstandings on both sides about the project.
“As a rookie councillor, I was totally taken aback at the measures we have in place once a rezoning is proposed,” he said.
“Once that happens... I become a judge, and I cannot talk to either side about the project,” he said, adding he doesn’t like the current system because it prevents him setting up a dialogue with residents and businesses about proposed developments.
“I want these people to have a meeting and discuss their concerns before a proposed rezoning happens. These people need to talk to each other.”
Genstar is currently setting up a meeting for late November or early December, said Klein, although a date, time and location haven’t been confirmed yet, nor have they decided on how best to notify residents of the meeting.