Many residents from Winnipeg’s old districts complain about homes built in the recent past: they do not like 'skinny, tall & long houses'.
Public consultations have shown that city residents are completely against such construction. The largest number of complaints was observed in the northern part of the city.
Winnipeg developers may face new rules for building houses in the old residential areas of the city. In the near future, this issue will be considered by the city council, and if approved, it will determine the norms for new homes in the next three years.
"One of the most frequently expressed concerns was related to modest bungalows being replaced by two long, narrow bi-level houses that fill up the lot, leaving no rear yard, no greenspace, frequently with a large secondary suite," Kurtis Kowalke, City of Winnipeg principal planner, explained.
"People aren't even necessarily opposed to [several] houses going in where there was one. They just have concern largely about how big some of these are, the way in which they're being constructed, and we can deal with that," said St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes.
"There's no backyards now for kids. So we're basically throwing kids out of the neighborhood. Yes, there are individual houses — they're fenced, but there's no yard. So what's the point? You might as well go live in an apartment block," activist Gary Lenko said.
However, not all developers agree with the idea that the architecture in city districts should remain primary and modern changes should not concern them.
"I find that we spend a lot of time trying to protect and and maintain existing context and character and we don't focus enough on how we can actually transform a neighborhood to become more dense and more livable and become a better use of the actual infrastructure," vice-president of Ventura Developments, Tim Comack, noted.
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