Developer seeks support from council on land dispute

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This article was published 23/02/2022 (1635 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A local developer frustrated with red tape surrounding potential developments along the Trans-Canada Highway asked Brandon City Council for support in coming to an agreement with Manitoba Infrastructure during Tuesday’s regular meeting.

According to John Burgess, representing Waverly Developments, a portion of land the company owns at 1910 Hamilton Ave. practically cannot be developed.

This is because it sits on the west side of 18th Street North and south of the Trans-Canada Highway in an area that Manitoba Infrastructure has set aside for the potential rerouting of the highway for the last 20 years.

“We had interest in the property immediately west of Husky by the highway tractor-trailer company,” Burgess said. “We tried to subdivide the property and [Manitoba Infrastructure] nixed that and does not allow access to that property, thereby making the whole parcel virtually undeveloped.”

The developer, Burgess explained, has owned the property for the last 10 years and is continuing to pay tax to the city despite it being unworkable.

The proposed subdivision would carve out a portion of the northeastern part of the parcel next to the Husky and allow it to be developed while leaving the rest of the land alone.

He argued that this wasn’t only bad for the developer but bad for the city, too, since the area is zoned for highway commercial and hospitality use, and that’s what the developer wants to install.

In a document attached to the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, city staff recommended that council vote against the subdivision of the property because Manitoba Infrastructure objects to the land being developed.

A potential compromise that city administration attempted to broker where the developer would access the property through 1990 18th St. North was rejected by the developer because they believed the lot would be “unreasonably and fully dependent” on access through that area.

However, Burgess said he has spoken with Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk since he assumed the portfolio last month and is open to discussing the situation.

As a gesture of support, Burgess asked for council to provide the developer with its backing and support if council were interested in having that property developed. This, he said, was partially done at the recommendation of city planners in the interest of finding a solution.

Burgess also said he doubted he represented the only property holder affected by the province’s set aside land.

Talking about the situation, Coun. Jeff Fawcett (Assiniboine) said a lot of the area appears to be in limbo and the city needs to make sure it gets on the same page as Manitoba Infrastructure to make sure development can take place along the highway.

“There’s periodic other development and commercial issues along the Trans-Canada that hinders and sometimes frustrates property owners and business owners up there because of the uncertainty,” Mayor Rick Chrest said.

Multiple other councillors backed the mayor on hearing about development problems along the highway over the years. Chrest later said it was “absurd” for Manitoba Infrastructure to force landowners to hold on to land for so long without being able to do anything with it.

In response to a question from Coun. Barry Cullen (Victoria), Burgess said the proposed development would not affect Manitoba Infrastructure’s potential desire to install a cloverleaf interchange.

The city’s director of planning and building, Ryan Nickel, said while the development aligns with the city’s development goals, it contradicts the city’s need to abide by Manitoba Infrastructure’s developments.

“MI is objecting to the request because they will not be able to access the property,” Nickel said. “From a professional planning perspective, we cannot recommend approval for the subdivision of land that has no access.”

However, Nickel conceded he understands developers’ frustrations as the province is denying requests but also isn’t buying that land to do something with.

After a lengthy debate about whether to deny the application and have the developer appeal to the Municipal Board, approve the application in opposition to administration and Manitoba Infrastructure desires and tabling the issue, council voted to table the subject for up to six months.

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