Property developer, environmental group square off over forest plan
Winnipeg Free Press
Saturday, January 28th, 2006
By Bartley Kives
IF a trail falls in the forest, it's safe to say you're going to hear about it. Property developer Ladco and environmental group Save Our Seine are trading bitter accusations about trail creation in Bois Des Esprits, a 36-hectare patch of trees along the Seine River that is protected by the city and the province.
Ladco is demanding that no new trails be created in the forest until 2011 on land the city owns, as well as on a six-hectare parcel that is still up for sale. Save Our Seine argues this is a new condition tacked on to existing agreements to protect the forest.
Ladco is developing homes near Bois Des Esprits and says it wants to keep the forest pristine until people living in the area can have a say.
Both entities are accusing the other of being reckless in their plans to develop the area and have unkind words for the city, which will be forced to play Solomon at a closed-door meeting Tuesday to decide the fate of the final chunk of forest.
"We've owned this forest for a long time. We want to make sure it remains protected," said Ladco president Alan Borger, who wants a moratorium on development of any kind within Bois Des Esprits, located south of John Bruce Road in St. Vital.
In 2003 and 2004, the City of Winnipeg, Province of Manitoba, Ladco and Save Our Seine agreed to protect the mostly pristine boreal forest from future housing developments. The city has contributed more than $1 million, the province $930,000 and Ladco about $213,000, while the non-profit Save Our Seine raised $110,000.
Part of the provincial money was used to help the city buy land from Ladco. But after a deadline to transfer the money passed, Ladco told the city it wants a trail-building moratorium to be part of its agreement to sell the final six hectares, according to city documents.
Save Our Seine, which sees trails as a central facet of Bois Des Esprit, has accused the city of failing to move over the money in time and charged that Ladco is just trying to take advantage.
"We worked with the city and province for three years to get this done," said co-ordinator Dave Danyluk. "We were told the money wasn't transferred in time, and this is why Ladco is able to return to the table with new conditions.
"We want Ladco to do what they said they would do."
Ladco president Alan Borger disputed the city's version of the state of the land negotiations, said city documents are full of "inaccuracies" and angrily denied he's trying to apply any new conditions.
"I don't think you want to go down that road," he said, adding he was surprised to hear about the city's position and wonders why Save Our Seine is in "such a hurry" to get trails built. "The bottom line is we've been negotiating for a long time and we're hopeful we can still get things done."
On Tuesday, city councillors will meet behind closed doors to discuss the sale of the final six-hectare chunk of land. City staff will present three options: Refuse to buy the land unless Ladco withdraws its conditions, buy the land and agree to the trail-building moratoriums on both the new land and existing city parkland, or buy the land and only agree to put off trail-building on the new piece of land.
City staff are recommending the third choice.
St. Boniface Coun. Franco Magnifico, whose ward includes most of Bois Des Esprits, was unable to comment yesterday because he sits on the committee that will discuss the land sale in private.
St. Vital Coun. Gord Steeves, who will not take part in the decision, said he thinks the recommended option sounds perfectly reasonable.
"We can't impose obligations on land Ladco owns. If they want to impose conditions, that seems fair to me," Steeves said yesterday.
"Generally speaking, Ladco has been pretty reasonable on Bois Des Esprits. What it boils down to is you can't get every single thing you want all the time, and organizations have to understand that."
Area resident Tammy Rutherford, however, said she is upset because trails help protect forests that sit next to urban areas.
Without trails, she argues, people wander in from nearby housing developments and trample the natural vegetation in every direction.
"I'm actually pretty disgusted, because we thought we had all this settled," she said. "This really is mind-boggling."
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca