Brandon council rezones land for 3-storey sixplex
Ward councillor cites concerns from residents about lack of parking in area, poor sight-lines
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Brandon City Council approved the rezoning of a residential property on Monday after a lengthy discussion on how tall the building should be.
The discussion centred on whether a single-family home at 2202 Rosser Ave. should be rezoned to allow for a sixplex, and whether the building should be three or two and a half storeys tall.
Coun. Shaun Cameron (Ward 4), who represents the area where the property is located, said he has heard a lot of concerns from residents about the lack of parking in the neighbourhood and of poor sight-lines if a sixplex is built on the site.
Coun. Shaun Cameron (Ward 4) asks a question about the 2202 Rosser Ave. development to Ryan Nickel, the city's planning and buildings director, at Monday's council meeting. (Alex Lambert/The Brandon Sun)
Council approved the rezoning for a three-storey sixplex in an 8-2 vote after defeating a motion from Cameron 7-3 that would have limited the height to two and a half storeys.
“The residents had shared with me … concern around the height and some of the sight-lines that you have into other yards, and it’s just it’s a bit out of character for the place,” Cameron said after the meeting.
“It’s incumbent on me to advocate for that, and it’s something that I did quite fervently leading up to this,” he said.
Cameron said the two-and-a-half-storey height that he proposed to council was a compromise. It’s not that people were completely opposed to redevelopment, he said.
“It didn’t work out this evening, and like I say, that’s the democratic process at work,” he said. “Ultimately, the chips fall where they may.”
During the meeting, council members heard from the property owners, who said they hoped to build the sixplex to help alleviate the city’s housing shortage. The six units would have three bedrooms each.
“We’re trying to build a high-quality, high-efficiency building that will be affordable for people in Brandon,” said Brock Trotter.
Trotter, who initially applied for a three-storey building, said the proposed two-and-a-half-storey height, which would have included half a storey below ground, would add “a lot more cost to us.”
“Any other cost that we’re going to have to keep accruing, it’s going to get passed along,” he said.
Trotter referenced news reports that cited a lack of student housing as a reason for the rezoning to be approved.
“We’re trying to build something as a family here for down the road for many years to come,” he said.
Additionally, Trotter said he has heard from one couple who want to move into the ground level of the complex once it’s built, but wouldn’t be able to if it is two and a half storeys tall as stairs would be required to access the lower level.
Regarding the parking issue, director of planning and buildings Ryan Nickel said the parking regulations for the sixplex are the same for the neighbouring single-family homes, and would be compliant.
A home at 2202 Rosser Ave. in Brandon. Brandon City Council recently voted to rezone the property from a single-family home to a residential moderate-density sixplex property. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)
Administration had recommended the three-storey height after the planning commission was deadlocked 2-2 on the application. The commission then decided to pass the rezoning, but only at two and a half storeys tall, in order to “move the development forward,” Nickel said.
He said “there’s a little bit of a difference” when it comes to the height, “but I wouldn’t call it a substantial difference.” The relatively small difference was the reason for administration’s recommendation, he said.
Coun. Greg Hildebrand (Ward 5), who said the redevelopment in general is “a significant change to the neighbourhood,” was the only council member to vote with Cameron both times.
Coun. Tyson Tame (Ward 10) in turn highlighted the need for higher-density housing in Brandon.
Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Ward 2) said while he was supporting the motion, he wouldn’t be do so on other properties.
“This one happens to be on a corner lot on Rosser. If this were in the middle of Lorne and Louise I wouldn’t be considering this,” he said.
“We see a lot of larger-scale apartments … there. We lost a lot of homes on 18th Street but it filled up quite nice and a lot of people live there now.”
Council’s decision was made at close to 10 p.m. after a closed portion of the meeting lasting more than an hour.
Coun. Shawn Berry (Ward 7) wasn’t at the meeting.
» alambert@brandonsun.com