Many questions, few answers

At some point, the people who sit at Brandon’s city council table have to ask themselves if they have been manipulated and misled, and if taxpayers have been left holding the bag.

Yesterday, it was reported in the Sun that Brandon is experiencing a surge in housing construction before higher development cost charges take effect.

It was also reported that at least one developer is predicting that construction will come to a “screaming halt” in a couple of years unless the city does more to “incentivize” developers to build in Brandon.

It was also reported in January that a developer has filed a “neighbourhood plan” for the large area on the southwest corner of 18th Street and Patricia Avenue, and there have been at least two opinion pieces published in the Sun since then (including one published yesterday) regarding concerns about the future of the wetlands on that site.

A copy of the neighbourhood plan is found on the City of Brandon website.

It can be found by searching “South Village” on that website and clicking the first link. I encourage you to read it because, if you do, you might see a number of concerning connections between yesterday’s report about housing starts and matters relating to the proposed development in the southwest corner of the city.

For starters, recall that we were told that

• the multimillion-dollar lift station proposal for southwest Brandon required speedy approval because there was an urgent need for housing;

• it was impossible to build new housing on the North Hill because a previous city council had decided that the growth would be to the southwest, and the city didn’t have the money that would be needed to develop the necessary infrastructure in both areas;

• if the lift stations were not quickly approved and funded by the city, trades people such as drywallers and electricians would leave the city because there wouldn’t be enough work for them;

• delaying approval of the southwest lift stations meant delaying the proposed commercial development on 18th Street South, and that would delay the creation of up to 1,000 good-paying jobs;

• the new development cost charges would reimburse the city’s infrastructure costs, based on a “growth pays for growth” principle; and

• the property taxes that would be generated from the development in the southwest corner would more than cover the tens of millions of dollars in costs the city was incurring as part of the development of that area.

Based on what we now know, including yesterday’s report, it’s fair to ask if any of that was true. It’s fair to ask if our councillors were misled into making decisions that lined the pockets of developers, with Brandonites forced to pay higher taxes to cover all those costs.

If the need for housing in Brandon was so urgent, and that housing could only be built in the southwest, why is it that the South Village neighbourhood plan treats housing as a secondary priority, and says that the housing construction on that site may only be completed a decade from now? Where is all the new home construction we were promised elsewhere in the southwest?

Given the glacial pace at which homes are being constructed in the southwest — and the likelihood that construction will come to a “screaming halt” in a couple of years — was it ever credible that property taxes derived from new construction in that area would pay for the millions of dollars in infrastructure costs that the city was incurring?

Was it ever credible that slow-motion growth in the southwest would pay for the cost of that growth?

Was it ever credible that development cost charges, under either the old or new formula, would even come close to covering those infrastructure costs?

Did developers drag out city council’s process for the approval of higher development cost charges so they could get building permits issued for as many projects as possible under the old DCC scheme — before the new, more expensive charges would be implemented?

How is that the construction of new housing on the North Hill was supposedly impossible two years ago — due primarily to an alleged lack of necessary infrastructure — yet there are now hundreds of new housing units being built in that area?

Why are we are building a new school in the southwest, where new home construction is moving at a snail’s pace, instead of on the North Hill, where parents are demanding a new high school and expanded Kirkcaldy Heights School? Is it because the school division and provincial education department were misled about the pace and direction of housing construction in the city?

Given all of the new construction that is happening in Brandon, on the North Hill in particular, was there ever a genuine, credible likelihood that tradespeople were preparing to leave the city due to a lack of work, or was that just a red herring to scare city councillors into quickly approving the lift station project?

Conceptual drawings in the South Village plan appear to indicate that the commercial development on the site will be some sort of strip mall that resembles the freestanding buildings at the Shoppers Mall.

Was it ever credible that such a mall would create upwards of 1,000 good-paying jobs?

When concerns about the credibility and cost of the southwest plan were being asked two, three and four years ago, the people asking the questions were derided as “Chicken Littles,” standing in the way of growth.

Based on what we now know, it appears their only mistake was not pushing harder for answers.