Developer files plan for South Village Neighbourhood

A proposed new development in south Brandon could create new retail and commercial space as well as about 544 homes.

The South Village Neighbourhood, located west of 18th Street and south of Patricia Avenue, is currently in the planning stages. Aside from a giant retention pond and the residential component, most of the land that will be built on is earmarked for commercial use.

VBJ Developments, which owns the land, asked the city to adopt a new neighbourhood plan last month.

“We do have a sufficient long-term supply of residential land. However, commercial land is in high demand and in short supply compared to residential land,” Andrew Mok, the city’s senior planner, said on Monday.

The land, which was annexed from the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis around 2018, was always intended to become primarily commercial, even as the city needs housing, Mok said.

As it currently stands, the commercial land would be developed for businesses, similar to the layouts of the Corral Centre and Shoppers Mall, Mok said.

“The idea was that this type of commercial development would be developed to cater the larger city as a whole,” he said.

The developer’s proposed neighbourhood plan includes renderings of a strip mall, along with two major chain restaurants.

The neighbourhood would be built in three phases, with Phase 1 being the commercial section next to 18th Street. Phase 2 is the residential area, and Phase 3, in the southwest corner of the property, won’t be developed as of now due to a “question mark” when it comes to the wetland, Mok said.

The retention pond and adjoining green space would be in the middle of the neighbourhood.

The residential part of the South Village would include room for anywhere between 321 and 711 low- and moderate-density homes, with an “expected” number of 544 homes, the document says.

That translates to housing for anywhere from 806 to 1,785 people, with an expectation of 1,365 people. The majority of the homes are moderate density, which includes townhouses and apartment buildings of three to four storeys.

A section of the neighbourhood is also designated for low-density housing.

Mayor Jeff Fawcett said there isn’t a lot of commercial land in the city, and that this would be a positive development.

“It’s a fantastic plan — we want to see it going forward,” Fawcett said. “I think it’s actually getting quite close.”

Work involving the province related to Highway 10 (18th Street) and the environment is continuing, he said. A city tender going out for a lift station in the near future would help get the ball rolling.

“If we get a tender out for the lift station, that triggers the first phase, and I imagine you’d see a lot of movement around there,” Fawcett said. “I think you’d probably see lots of signs saying, ‘This is what’s happening,’ ‘Future home of.’

“Those would be things I’d like to see this year.”

The land is currently used for agriculture and is described by developers as a wetland.

Mok said the city will have to deal with the challenge of developing the land without disturbing the wetland.

“The wetland is definitely important to retain, not only because of the wildlife that it can accommodate already, but also from the city’s technical perspective,” he said.

“It also plays a key role in drainage control to help not just our residents, but also our neighbours downstream.”

Part of the retention process will come from the developer’s plan, he said.

Prior to the land’s annexation, people living near the land in Cornwallis raised concerns over development that could cause drainage issues, Mok said.

“We recognize that that is a valid concern. So we appreciate the necessity of maintaining the wetland’s integrity to ensure that we are able to mitigate any drainage issues that can arise from development surrounding this area,” he added.

The proposed neighbourhood plan “is designed to create a walkable, mixed-use neighbourhood to include residential and commercial regional retail development,” the document says.

The plan shows a giant oval-shaped retention pond, which would also serve as a green space. The plan’s concept includes open fields with trees and a play structure.

Proposed trails within the greenspace would also “provide the public with information related to the functions and benefits of wetlands,” the plan reads.

A request for an interview with a representative of VBJ Developments wasn’t answered by press time on Monday.

Other future developments are being built for homes in the Brookwood South neighbourhood — where the construction of a new K-8 school is underway — and the Bellafield neighbourhood. Both Brookwood South and Bellafield are north of Patricia Avenue, on either side of 34th Street.

There are also plans for developments in southeast Brandon and on the North Hill, Mok said.

» alambert@brandonsun.com