City council gives green light to green space plans
A push to create and protect green space cleared a major hurdle Thursday at city hall.
Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of two master planning documents.
The OurWinnipeg 2045 Plan and Complete Communities Direction Strategy feature a focus on green space planning.
“This is a momentous day,” said Coun. Sherri Rollins, chairperson of the Standing Policy Committee on Protection, Community Services and Parks. “It really is a big day.”
The plan will include a biodiversity policy and plans to protect and enhance forests and green spaces and connect riverbank corridors.
It also calls for a ban on development on city-owned land that is designated as major open space or park land.
“You might see a parking lot there today but tomorrow it’s a beautiful view of the riverbank,” said Rollins.
Last month a property on Mulvey Ave. East, bordering a trail that’s tucked along the west bank of the Red River just off Osborne St. nearly became home to a housing development.
“I was surprised it didn’t,” said Shirley Forsyth, a resident of the area and a green space advocate. “I really thought that we would lose this.”
Community advocates pushed back and Winnipeg city council voted against the sale.
Groups like OURS (Outdoor Urban Recreational Spaces)-Winnipeg have been vocal in the push to protect, preserve and create green space—a movement that’s gained additional momentum amid the pandemic.
Pam Lucenkiw, co-chair of OURS-Winnipeg, said about six per cent or 9,000 acres of land in Winnipeg is considered park space.
“This has been a big leap for Winnipeg,” said Lucenkiw. “We have moved from having no green space plan and kind of having a vision of Winnipeg having too much green space to now having a plan looking to our future.”
Lucenkiw said the challenge now will be turning the vision into reality.
“The next step is the strategic plan and the budget and we will be watching very closely to make sure that these plans bear fruit,” she said.
Part of the plan includes adding an additional 1,000 acres of public park space.
“I think it’s feasible,” said Mayor Brian Bowman. “It’s going to require some work by this council and future councils.”
While it’s surrounded by orange snow fence and filled with gravel now, Forsyth feels the vacant land on Mulvey has plenty of untapped potential.
“I just love the peace and quiet,” she said. “It’s quiet, normally. You get the cyclists coming through. You get to sit and look at the river.”
She hopes that soon it’ll become an even more welcoming place for people to enjoy.
The OurWinnipeg plan now goes to the province for approval.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.