City approves rezoning for 20-unit apartment block

A proposed apartment block on First Street in Brandon will help alleviate the city’s housing shortage, the building’s designer said.

City council approved a rezoning to allow the 20-unit facility at the corner of First Street and Park Avenue at its Monday meeting, after a previous open hearing received pushback from multiple community members.

Construction of the building at 856 and 862 First St. could break ground as early as this fall. The site is currently occupied by a house and a vacant lot.

Kate McKenzie, owner and senior designer of McKenzie Design Solutions, said the apartment block has been designed to fit with the surrounding neighbourhood, which is mainly single-family homes.

“We ended up putting a patio out around the front corner with some planters and stuff to sort of … give it a human feel,” McKenzie said about the current design of the planned three-storey building. “I think that was a good addition to the project.”

She estimated the build would take about a year after it starts.

The building is slated to include 12 three-bedroom units, four one-bedroom units and four four-bedroom units, McKenzie said.

She said those specific types of units are being built because the city had previously determined that there is a shortage of those sizes of homes in Brandon.

At a planning commission meeting last month, several residents raised concerns over traffic flow near the apartment building.

Principal planner Sonikile Tembo said the residents’ concerns led to the planning commission voting down the development in a 2-2 tie. But, she said after the meeting, the result of the vote is treated more as a recommendation to city council, and council members are able to vote how they see fit.

Administration addressed the commission members’ concerns to council and said on Monday that traffic should not be an issue.

“Administration has done a lot of the work, whether it’s analyzing for traffic or is it a good fit in the neighbourhood,” Tembo said on Tuesday. “So, the purpose of the hearing is to hear from the public in case there’s things that are being missed.”

She said it’s “rare” for council to vote opposite of the planning commission.

“Normally, there’s quite a bit of alignment because we understand that a lot of work has already been done even before it comes to planning commission,” Tembo said.

The commission’s meetings aren’t streamed online and the recorded minutes of the meeting haven’t been posted.

City spokesperson Merrilea Metcalf said the minutes of the May 20 meeting — which typically include details of the proceedings, including what people objected to or key issues they raised — won’t be released until they are approved by the commission’s chair.

Tembo said she can also understand the pushback from residents, as change can be difficult.

City administration determined that the proposed building “fits just fine” in the neighbourhood, Tembo said, and that a larger concentration of housing is needed and is in the city’s plan for main corridors and corner lots.

“We acknowledge that currently we have a housing gap where the supply is not meeting the demand, so we do have a responsibility to provide more housing,” Tembo said.

“Just because we have a housing shortage, we’re not just approving anything everywhere,” she added. “We do have a rigorous process to make sure that what’s going up is proper, and we encourage residents to reach out when they have concerns.”

She said traffic will increase at the intersection as a natural result of the new construction. But, she added, changes around street parking near the intersection in the development plan will address traffic concerns.

There was no one at Monday’s council meeting who objected to the building being approved.

McKenzie’s company is also leading a 120-unit build at 2940 Victoria Ave., with a combination of the same types of units. Construction on that building is supposed to be completed by the summer of 2028, McKenzie previously estimated in a March interview.

» alambert@brandonsun.com