Manitoba TaxPayer

While doing a little poking around the City of Winnipeg Assessment Department’s assessment mapping application, I have determined that Seven Oaks School Division would have to acquire these three properties which border on Ridgecrest Avenue and Main Street:

The Ridgecrest Property!

Main Street Property One! (with the exclusion of The BubbleBath Carwash)

Main Street Property Two!

All of which, when added up, amounts to 53.1 Acres (so much for metric).. The School will take up 10 Acres leaving 43.1.
You don’t suppose Seven Oaks School Division was going to develop this property themselves prior to the Inquiry on the Swinford Development? How much of that did Palubeski acquire? How about O’Leary, did he grab a chunk?
According to the May 12th drawing that I have, Greenview Homes out of Calgary are going to displace the River Bottom forrest and the pair of Bald Eagles with 129 homes in the $255,000 price range. Don’t we have an local Developers?

In addition to the above, another developer, Coral Reef Property, will ride the infrastructure coattails of Greenview/Seven Oaks School Division and build another 91 homes (including the Lehmann Property where the big house currently sits) on properties adjoining on the north side.

The Whiteway Property (131 Mcbeth Street) development will add another 44 homes.

And finally, The Draco Property located on Red River Blvd. will add another 13 homes.

Here is a better picture of the overall area with most of the development south of This Spot on Google Satellite Maps!

Added up gives us a total of 84.8 Acres and ~277 Homes.

How much will this benefit me as I live on the other side of Main Street???

Monday, May 30, 2005!

The Winnipeg Free Press has an article about the proposed River Ridge Develop part of which includes the new West Kildonan Collegiate which will sit on 10 acres of the development.

I notice that The City of Winnipeg (David Marsh) is being portrayed as the “preventer” of the destruction of some 3.4 hectares of an ecosystem known as river bottom forest by the Development of River Ridge. Don’t you think they are acting in the best interest of the taxpayers???

The article states that 132 houses are planned when in fact it is over 200 houses from the last plans that I saw. Somebody ask Palubeski for the latest drawings?
While you are at it, ask him how much of the land that he owns and how much capital gain he is going to make personally, from the development!

Somebody could also speak with O’Leary of the Seven Oaks School Division and ask him if he is holding title (or option) to any of the land involved in the development.
And while you are speaking to him, ask him how much land the Seven Oaks School Division has acquired to build the school. Is part of their holding included in the housing development??? How much do they stand to gain/loose???

These are just a few of the questions I would like to have answered.

Complete? Winnipeg Free Press Article - May 30, 2005

On May 12, 2005, David Palubeskie of Lombard North Group held a Public Consultation Meeting with River Ridge area residents which I attended. The plan included 217 lots (plus or minus ?) for houses expected to sell in the $250,000 range. Also included in the plan is the layout for West Kildonan Collegiate. Palubeskie said he was representing two developers, Green View Property, and Coral Reef Property, neither of which I can locate on the Internet. Brian O’Leary represented Seven Oaks School Division I think but I don’t remember him being introduced as such. They expected to move the plan through rather quickly, expecting to start construction in August 2005. The zoning adjustment plans are DASZ 10/05 for Green View Homes and DASZ 11/05 for Coral Reef Properties. The City of Winnipeg web site used to have all these public documents online but for some reason has recently removed them. David Marsh from the City of Winnipeg Planning Department also attended and presented the Planners options. It was an interesting meeting where as little information as possible regarding the Seven Oaks School Division’s involvment was presented. The presenters also asked for email comments and/or requests for more information.

I supplied links if you want to contact them!

The Times community newspaper also attended and their columnist, Elisha Cumbers, produced this article.