Proposed ward changes adapt to population growth

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This article was published 05/04/2022 (1342 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Proposed changes to Brandon electoral districts ahead of this fall’s municipal election could clarify ward boundaries for residents, city councillors said Tuesday.

According to some councillors, residents sometimes mistake in which ward they live because their homes are located on streets with names identical to wards, something the new geographical-based naming system should help with.

At Monday’s Brandon City Council meeting, a first reading was given to a bylaw that would redraw the boundaries for the 10 wards that elect councillors.

A document attached to the agenda for Monday’s meeting stated the last time there was a big shakeup of the boundaries was 2008, and the proposed new boundaries attempt to even out the number of residents each ward contains based on data obtained from last year’s census.

The changes would also see the wards be renamed from the current scheme that refers to landmarks and streets — Rosser, University, and so on — to a more generic system that would indicate each ward’s geographical position within city limits.

These are the wards with borders that wouldn’t change with the revised boundaries: Linden Lanes (renamed to Brandon Southwest Ward 7), Assiniboine (Brandon North Ward 1), Rosser (Brandon North Centre Ward 2) and Riverview (Brandon East Ward 9).

Green Acres (Brandon Southeast Ward 10), currently represented by Coun. Jan Chaboyer, would remain the largest ward geographically as it encompasses the industrial areas in the city’s southeast.

Most of its boundaries are remaining the same, except where it borders the South Centre and Richmond districts.

Areas along Queens Avenue and Richmond Avenue west of First Street are being transferred to South Centre, while areas east of Ninth Street south of Maryland Avenue are being given to Green Acres from Richmond.

After the proposed changes, South Centre would take a square shape, spanning Victoria Avenue to Richmond Avenue north to south and 18th Street to First Street west to east.

The Richmond Ward is also losing some area in its northwestern corner to the Meadows-Waverly Ward from Maryland Avenue northward to Richmond Avenue.

Currently, Meadows-Waverly has an area protruding westward from its main territory that borders Linden Lanes to the south, University to the northeast and Victoria to the northwest.

That protrusion would be portioned out equally to the University and Victoria wards, with both of them now bordering Linden Lanes to the south.

The only ward that wouldn’t receive a new name is South Centre, which is currently represented by Coun. Bruce Luebke.

He said Tuesday he already describes the borders of his ward as essentially being Richmond Avenue to Victoria Avenue, First Street to 18th Street, so the changes would just make that description more accurate.

“When you look at the map, I think it simplifies the boundaries of most of the wards a little bit more than they currently are,” Luebke said. “The previous [current] boundaries, some of the wards had some very odd shapes to them.”

The modest changes to his ward make sense because it’s not a part of town that’s growing and developing very much, the councillor said.

“It’s still a work in progress, but having the opportunity to represent more residents in the City of Brandon is something I’d be happy to embrace,” Coun. Shaun Cameron (University) said of the proposed changes on Tuesday.

It’s important for council to explore potential ward changes on a regular basis to ensure representation is equal throughout all 10 wards, he added. He likes the current naming system for wards where the names are derived from characteristics and hopes any new names won’t confuse residents.

His colleague, Coun. Barry Cullen (Victoria), said the name changes will actually resolve some confusion surrounding the boundaries.

Representing a ward named after a major street, Cullen told the Sun Tuesday he sometimes gets calls from people living on the other side of the city assuming he’s their representative because they live on Victoria Avenue.

“I think it’s more of a reflection of things that are happening in the south, which is putting a lot of pressure on a few of the ward councillors over in that direction,” Cullen said of the ward boundary changes.

In the area that his ward is gaining, Cullen said he’ll end up representing approximately 200 more residences and 440 additional residents.

At Brandon City Council on Monday evening, Cullen participated in the meeting virtually. On Tuesday, he revealed he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms.

Linden Lanes isn’t changing size, which concerns Coun. Shawn Berry a little bit.

While the proposed changes are aimed at balancing the number of residents in each ward as much as possible based on data from last year, Berry said ongoing developments in his ward could lead to an imbalance where it contains more residences than the others.

“They’re trying to keep it as even as possible, which makes sense, they should do it,” Berry said. “But my ward has potential growth of well over 3,000 units in the next while through the two major developments that are going on through Bellafield and south Brookwood. If you go by today’s numbers, I’m bang on where I should be … but by summertime this year, that could change drastically.”

Another minor concern Berry has is that his ward would keep a small blip that has little to no residents on it at the southernmost end of town. If the city is trying to even out ward boundaries, he said that section of land should probably belong to Richmond Ward.

With a population of 51,313 for the City of Brandon as listed in the 2021 census, the mean number of residents for each ward is 5,131 and the mean number of dwellings 2,253.

The following wards would have populations above the mean if the changes go through: Victoria (5,399 residents), University (5,367), Meadows-Waverly (5,243), Linden Lanes (5,309) and Riverview (5,167).

These wards would have fewer residents than the mean: Assinboine (5,114 residents), Rosser (4,955), South Centre (4,903), Richmond (5,108) and Green Acres (4,748).

If there ends up being a debate over the new proposed boundaries and names, council has limited time to hash things out.

Though the City of Brandon did not provide any member of administration to speak on the ward boundary changes on Tuesday, a spokesperson said the issue of the ward names will come up at the next meeting of city council.

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