St Boniface Area | Winnipeg | Development

[LilZebra]

The *new* Windsor Park Library is now open. It features a 1 floor "accessible" design, but is not located on a busy street, which IMHO is not "accessible". Beautiful location... if you can find the darned thing.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...oors-1.4578460

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by LilZebra

The *new* Windsor Park Library is now open. It features a 1 floor "accessible" design, but is not located on a busy street, which IMHO is not "accessible". Beautiful location... if you can find the darned thing.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...oors-1.4578460

Archibald is an extremely busy street! now if you were to say not a residential street then that is an accurate statement. I think its too bad they could attach it to the Bonivital pool so they can share city staff (cleaning) and kids can swim while siblings are in library, etc.

[Tacheguy]

I see Bijou jewelry is back on Provencher soon. Right beside the new cheese shop. That is another positive sign for the south side of the street.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Tacheguy

I see Bijou jewelry is back on Provencher soon. Right beside the new cheese shop. That is another positive sign for the south side of the street.

They're closing the South Osborne location and they'll be operating on Provencher and in Lombard Place (for now). Or so a man at the shop told me.

I don't get why they decamped to South Osborne in the first place.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Bijou original location on Provencher is still sitting empty, i guess they didn't own that building otherwise why not return to that location.

[pegcityfan]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

Bijou original location on Provencher is still sitting empty, i guess they didn't own that building otherwise why not return to that location.

Yup. Owner told me they tried to buy the building way back but too much.

[Tacheguy]

wow. there is a large home made sign at the north end of Tache saying "825 Tache condos NOT coming". I believe this is the guy at 851 tache who opposed the project from day one as he thinks it would compromise his own plans. I sure hope Sunstone proceeds as planned..

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by Tacheguy

wow. there is a large home made sign at the north end of Tache saying "825 Tache condos NOT coming". I believe this is the guy at 851 tache who opposed the project from day one as he thinks it would compromise his own plans. I sure hope Sunstone proceeds as planned..

i drove through area on weekend and saw that. what an eyesore of a house nearby their and a street cleaning storage yard on the river side, just brutal why that is preferred over a condo.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Originally Posted by Tacheguy

wow. there is a large home made sign at the north end of Tache saying "825 Tache condos NOT coming". I believe this is the guy at 851 tache who opposed the project from day one as he thinks it would compromise his own plans. I sure hope Sunstone proceeds as planned..

He's likely opposing it as it will turn what he's had, for a very ling time, an almost rural property, into an urban one. I can appreciate that. I would probably oppose it too. It's not right necessarily in a growing city but I understand.

[bomberjet]

Turning derelict, prime river front land into useable space. What's wrong with that? Besides the guy who will be living in the middle of it like the movie Up.

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by OTA in Winnipeg

He's likely opposing it as it will turn what he's had, for a very ling time, an almost rural property, into an urban one. I can appreciate that. I would probably oppose it too. It's not right necessarily in a growing city but I understand.

I can also sympathize with that property owner, and would also find myself opposing the project if I was in their shoes, as OTA mentioned. That being said, like all developments in the city, the greater good has to be considered and weighed a little bit heavier than one soon-to-be unfortunate neighbour. The city needs more dense areas as well as waterfront development that encourages a thriving neighbourhood. Single family homes backing on to the river preventing public space use is holding tourism and leisure back. Especially that area, where the 851 tache house and a few redneck looking garages and yards are right across the river from downtown. So much potential

[BuildUpWpg]

Originally Posted by WildCake

I can also sympathize with that property owner, and would also find myself opposing the project if I was in their shoes, as OTA mentioned. That being said, like all developments in the city, the greater good has to be considered and weighed a little bit heavier than one soon-to-be unfortunate neighbour. The city needs more dense areas as well as waterfront development that encourages a thriving neighbourhood. Single family homes backing on to the river preventing public space use is holding tourism and leisure back. Especially that area, where the 851 tache house and a few redneck looking garages and yards are right across the river from downtown. So much potential

I totally agree! The city screwed up big time a hundred years ago by selling off most of the river banks in the city to single family home owners. That goes against the grain of what most other cities who have kept their riverbanks as parkland all throughout their city.

[TimeFadesAway]

Originally Posted by WildCake

I can also sympathize with that property owner, and would also find myself opposing the project if I was in their shoes, as OTA mentioned. That being said, like all developments in the city, the greater good has to be considered and weighed a little bit heavier than one soon-to-be unfortunate neighbour. The city needs more dense areas as well as waterfront development that encourages a thriving neighbourhood. Single family homes backing on to the river preventing public space use is holding tourism and leisure back. Especially that area, where the 851 tache house and a few redneck looking garages and yards are right across the river from downtown. So much potential

Sorry to break it to him, but the 'Deliverance' vibe that his neighbourhood was rocking is a thing of the past.

[Kris22]

Originally Posted by BuildUpWpg

I totally agree! The city screwed up big time a hundred years ago by selling off most of the river banks in the city to single family home owners. That goes against the grain of what most other cities who have kept their riverbanks as parkland all throughout their city.

This is something that I think truly hurts our city...because we are in the prairies the ONLY interesting natural topographical feature we have is our rivers and they are largely inaccessible and in most cases not even viewable! The riverwalk from the forks to the village that everyone loves could have been a huge network going along the Red and the Assiniboine with branches coming off into different areas of town. It would have been beautiful, encouraged active transportation, and also just been healthy and therapeutic. People like to be near the water and in nature.

I admire that the city has really pushed active transportation paths in the last decade but look at the locations of most of them...alongside highways (I'm thinking the bishop grandin path) and near industrial land where space was available.

And it's not like private residential still couldn't be part of the plan, it would just have to be set back like 50-100 feet and those residences would still have river and park-like views. This was such a missed opportunity and something that will never be fixed.

[esquire]

^ Good point. Think about nice scenic roads like Colonel By Drive in Ottawa coming in from the airport... it sets such a nice vibe that would be totally eliminated if it were lined with houses as rivers typically are in Winnipeg. Someone not from here would be hard pressed to realize just how much of a presence rivers have in this city because they are so hidden from view.

The city's current riverbank policy is to protect them for public use, but so much of it is privately owned that it could be centuries before there is continuous public access to the riverbanks.

[Tacheguy]

^ you just have to take a slow ride or walk down Lyndale Drive to see how beautiful this city could have been. Imagine all the mansions on Wellington Crescent located on the south side, with the north side public space like the Parkway in Ottawa.
The irony of the Tache case, as I understand it, is that the militant wants his own condo development but doesn't want the other to block the views. That is third hand though..

[WildCake]

General question regarding these condos in St B - Is the city acquiring any of the waterfront land? From what I remember the developers of 825 tache are building in a public waterfront feature but if it's still privately owned then
a) they could decide to make that space private/redevelop it at any time
b) it still leaves the door open for other future developments along Tache to gate-off their property all the way to the water and leave a patchwork of public/private spaces that leads to poor public use

The ship has long sailed for most of the core of the city but what baffles me is there is no moratorium on riverfront development or clause that keeps a large buffer as a reserve for future park space. Looking at christie rd south of perimeter as an example, all these new owners are buying land that goes right up to the river.

I wonder if there could ever be a by-law that obliges riverfront lot owners to sell 10-15 meters of land to the city if ever the property is sold or changes owner, so that slowly but surely the city would regain its waterfront, and once a sizeable continuous chunk of land is back in their hands ,it could be converted to park space.

[Tacheguy]

Originally Posted by WildCake

General question regarding these condos in St B - Is the city acquiring any of the waterfront land? From what I remember the developers of 825 tache are building in a public waterfront feature but if it's still privately owned then
a) they could decide to make that space private/redevelop it at any time
b) it still leaves the door open for other future developments along Tache to gate-off their property all the way to the water and leave a patchwork of public/private spaces that leads to poor public use

The ship has long sailed for most of the core of the city but what baffles me is there is no moratorium on riverfront development or clause that keeps a large buffer as a reserve for future park space. Looking at christie rd south of perimeter as an example, all these new owners are buying land that goes right up to the river.

I wonder if there could ever be a by-law that obliges riverfront lot owners to sell 10-15 meters of land to the city if ever the property is sold or changes owner, so that slowly but surely the city would regain its waterfront, and once a sizeable continuous chunk of land is back in their hands ,it could be converted to park space.

The plan for north st b includes a linear park all the way along the river. Most of it is in place already and future developments have to include a public greenspace of a certain width, 20 or 30 feet I believe..

[bomberjet]

IIRC there was a pathway shown along the river behind the condos going under the train bridge and connecting to the parks on either end. Which is already there as an unofficial trail behind the old city yard.

[bomberjet]

http://825tache.com/concept/

Apologies for the image size. This shows over 100' from top of riverbank to property line.