89 residential lots greenlit for Brandon’s southwest

Two subdivisions that were approved by Brandon council on Monday will create a total of 89 new single-family detached houses in the city’s southwest corner.

The developments will connect to existing neighbourhoods, one on the east and the other on the west side of 34th Street, both north of Patricia Avenue.

The first subdivision application to be approved — located on the west side with a current address of 1900 34th St. — was submitted by Waverly Developments, with 43 lots to be developed over the course of 10 years, according to the planning commission meeting minutes from Aug. 5.

This development will extend the existing Brookwood neighbourhood into Brookwood South, which the city has identified as a greenfield area that will continue to expand.

The second subdivision — with 46 lots submitted by applicant VBJ Developments — will connect to the Bellafield neighbourhood on the east side of 34th Street.

Both additions to the existing neighbourhoods will require more municipal infrastructure, which Mayor Jeff Fawcett said the city will continue to support.

“It’s something we’ve been putting all the groundwork into,” Fawcett said in an interview Wednesday.

“The expectation is this will be able to continue because we have the infrastructure. Over the next year or two we’ll continue to see these extend.”

In 2023, the city announced the southwest wastewater servicing project to support new growth as the existing facility reached capacity.

Phase 1 of that project is in the area around 34th Street, and includes a gravity sewer, pressurized pipe and a lift station to service both neighbourhoods.

In addition to water servicing, a new school is currently under construction that will serve the proposed subdivisions, Andrew Mok, senior planner with the city, noted Wednesday.

“This development will help connect the Bellafield neighbourhood directly to 34th Street for the first time and, coincidentally, enable access to that future school site,” Mok said.

New public roads will also be built to access the homes and connect to the existing ones.

VBJ Developments submitted Propp Place and McCrimmon Drive in a written letter to council as proposals for two new street names within the Bellafield residential subdivision to “commemorate former Brandon Wheat Kings players whose on-ice achievements brought distinction to the city,” the letter said.

Fawcett acknowledged the council had been slow to develop single-family homes in the past few years.

“We’ve been doing a lot of housing, but single detached housing has not been as readily available and I think that people would have noticed that in the market,” Fawcett said.

A public hearing for both plan applications was held on Aug. 5.

Fawcett said he had received zero feedback and believes these developments will fill a gap in the housing market.

“The market does need them … It’s a whole new residential area in the city we will continue to see expand,” he said.

The subdivisions — and rezoning of both parcels from agriculture land to residential low density — were approved with minimal discussion during Monday’s regular council meeting.

Prior to the start of the meeting, council members held a closed-door committee of the whole meeting that was not accessible to the public. Fawcett said they did not discuss the two developments during that meeting.

“They just come to the council table (and) debated at the council table,” he said.

Mok said once conditions are met, he think’s it’ll be “full speed ahead” with construction.

» rgerrard@brandonsun.com