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Posted Feb 7, 2008, 2:53 PM
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Portage & Main 50 below
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Seattle
Posts: 4,872
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More sprawl anyone?
Quote:
Charleswood housing boom?
City planners propose 4,000 new units for area
Thu Feb 7 2008
By Joe Paraskevas | Winnipeg Free Press
CITY planners have drawn up a proposal to build as many as 4,000 new housing units in Charleswood and are calling the plan "a priority" ahead of other similar projects.
If approved by city council, the development -- including single-family homes, condominiums and multiple-family apartments -- would be built over the course of a decade, on 305 hectares (about 750 acres) of land in Charleswood's southwest corner, the Free Press has learned.
Acting on a request from Charleswood-Tuxedo Coun. Bill Clement, planners are preparing to send the proposal to councillors in coming months.
In addition to new housing, however, the plan could also trigger significant infrastructure changes: the extension of major roads such as the Charleswood Parkway and the construction of new arterial roads. Its implementation could rid the suburb of an outdated system of ditches long used to drain land and even help halt declining enrolment in some of its schools by bringing in new residents, say people familiar with the plan.
The proposed housing development would be called Ridgewood South. It would be bordered by the Perimeter Highway on the west, Wilkes Avenue on the south, and Elmhurst Road and the southwest tip of the Assiniboine Forest on the east. It would take its name from Ridgewood Avenue, the street that bisects southwest Charleswood and that would form the development's northern boundary.
A spokesman for the city's department of planning, property and development ranked Ridgewood high among about 10 other such development plans around the city on which the department is currently working.
"Ridgewood South has come to the forefront as being a large, undeveloped area that would definitely be desirable for residential development," James Veitch, the city's Assiniboia community district planner, said in an interview. "This area has been highlighted as (having the) potential to provide at least 2,000 to 3,000 new units. We're looking at that in great detail with consultants."
The organization representing the city's realtors called the prospect of Ridgewood South "very exciting news."
"I've always heard from many people, 'When are they going to open up Charleswood?'" said Peter Squire, a spokesman for WinnipegREALTORS, which represents about 1,300 real estate agents in the city. "I've probably heard that too many times... certainly in my industry. Why aren't they opening up Charleswood to more lots? Because it's such a desirable area of the city."
And yet, the city's efforts could do more than lead to new housing, observers believe. People familiar with planning and development said city hall has a chance to transform what many consider an attractive but aging and underdeveloped suburb.
While Ridgewood South would be smaller in scale than Waverley West, the 1,200-hectare, 11,000-unit development west of the University of Manitoba where work has recently begun, they added that Ridgewood South could be a shot in the arm for Charleswood.
"Its time has come," said Ross Mitchell, a former planner with the city, now working in the Winnipeg office of MMM Group, a planning and engineering firm. "Waverley West has sort of taken the heat off, in terms of housing demand in the southwest. It's been the safety valve. That will really accommodate a lot of the demand. But this part of Charleswood is due for development as well."
In the coming months, city administration will hand off to councillors a so-called secondary plan that would serve as a guide for future development, Veitch said. Council would then have to decide whether to move forward.
The plan consists of four scenarios, each outlining different densities of residential development -- from as few as 2,000 homes to as many as 4,000 -- and possibly a commercial shopping-centre node, Veitch said.
City planners are currently working on a cost-benefit analysis that would tell potential developers whether the price of developing Ridgewood South and connecting its sewers, roads and other infrastructure to the city's grid would make construction viable.
Clement, the area's longtime councillor, has seen the planning department's draft. He said Ridgewood South could, in some ways, be less challenging for developers than Waverley West, because many community resources already exist and some are in need of new users.
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