Fear development too dense for area
Winnipeg Free Press
Tuesday November 16 2004
By Mary Agnes Welch
RESIDENTS of Linden Woods will try tonight to kill a plan to build condominiums on land once slated for a neighbourhood school.
Local builders Randall Homes and Genstar Development want to build 42 semi-detached condos on Lindenwood Drive West, just south of a community club.
But nearby residents say they bought their houses on the understanding the vacant land would one day become a school complete with parkland.
Wrong location
The Pembina Trails School Division recently decided the property is too small and in the wrong location to warrant construction -- a scenario that has repeated itself in about a dozen other booming suburbs where schools were once planned and later abandoned.
Larry Dolmer, who lives on Deer Run Drive, is spearheading a petition against the condo project and has gathered 150 signatures. He expects several people to speak against the proposal at a public hearing tonight. Dolmer says the development is too dense and the windows of the second-floor units will overlook the backyards of homes on Deer Run Drive.
And he fears the developers may push zoning rules to their limit and build more than the proposed 42 condos.
"What's proposed may not be what's built," said Dolmer. "We're on the thin edge of the wedge here."
At best, the land could be used for recreation by the nearby Linden Woods community centre, said Dolmer. Residents may also be willing to settle for more single-family houses, but a condo complex is too dense a development for the neighbourhood.
But city staff say the project should go ahead because it's a good example of higher density infill housing encouraged by the city's urban planning blueprint.
City planners also note parking is more than adequate and that the setbacks from the street are similar to those imposed on single-family homes. The condos will also be designed to fit in well with surrounding houses. The community committee, which is made up of the region's three councillors, will hear the public's feedback and the developer's pitch at a meeting tonight. They will then decide whether the project gets the go-ahead.