Winnipeg airport noise study suggests delayed Polo Park-area development could proceed

Results from a recently released noise study and land-use planning analysis suggest more development could be coming to areas around Winnipeg's airport — including an area at the heart of a dispute between a developer and the local airports authority.

The report, commissioned by the Manitoba government, recommends revising land use regulations tied to air traffic noise around Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport.

A city bylaw, known as the Airport Vicinity Protection Area Secondary Plan, restricts residential development in the area around the airport, in order to avoid complaints about noise from the operations of the airport.

However, air traffic has decreased and aircraft technology has become quieter since 1995, when the last noise review was carried out, and the new report suggests reducing the amount of land affected by the bylaw, which would allow more development nearer to the airport.

Winnipeg Airports Authority president and CEO Barry Rempel said there has been a need for updated guidelines for years.

"There's still lots more to do," he said, but "this is the first and most important, I'll say critical step, in getting us to a revised airport and facility protection area."

He welcomes the report — despite the airports authority's past objections to a major development planned in the area of Polo Park shopping centre and former Canad Inns stadium site.

Shindico Realty partnered with property and development giant Cadillac Fairview, which owns the shopping centre, on a proposal for a massive residential project in the summer of 2019. Cadillac Fairview estimated the completed residential development site would be valued in the billions of dollars.

But approval hit delays, including a wait for the noise study and a land-use analysis.

Rempel is optimistic that with the new guidelines, development will be able to proceed soon.

"I truly hope we can get this all done certainly by the end of the year, with what I would say are interim steps that give people like Cadillac Fairview faith that much, if not all, of their project will be able to proceed."

'Absolutely no reason' for delay

Legal counsel for Shindico, though, has attributed the project's delays to the airports authority being "obstructionist."

"I'm frustrated that we're [nearly] three years into a process where our city and airport have delayed a development for what turned out to be absolutely no reason," said Justin Zarnowski.

"I should be happier" with the release of the report, he said, but "I am so embarrassed for our city to have not been able to wrap our heads around this. This is not a grey area — the Polo Park area is not impacted [by airport noise]."

The development was held up during City of Winnipeg's oversight process, after the WAA objected to proposed changes to the Airport Vicinity Protection Area Secondary Plan.

"Simply doing spot amendments was a bad way to plan," Rempel said. "It's a good way to get a particular building built, but it's not a good way to build a city."

The federal government got involved in that dispute on behalf of the airports authority, and city council voted to delay its decision on whether to approve the project.

Then, early last year, the province's municipal board, which has the authority to resolve zoning disputes, also got involved.

The province hired consultant HM Aero, an aviation consulting firm based in Ottawa, and Winnipeg-based Landmark Planning and Design, to undertake the new noise and land use assessment of the airport.

WAA commissions own report

Meanwhile, Rempel said the WAA contracted an aviation consultant of its own that has conducted an additional noise and land-use review.

He suggested the airports authority wanted to do its own due diligence, and he suspects their review and that of the province's will have considerable overlap. That study also suggested reducing the noise-protected footprint, allowing for more development, he said.

But prior to either of those reviews, Zarnowski said Shindico hired its own airport planning and noise expert, whose study found Winnipeg's noise boundaries were dated and "inaccurate," and that development could proceed.

Rempel said he understands why further delays would be frustrating for the developers, but that it's important the airport maintains its 24-7 operations and future development accounts for ambient noise as well as noise from aircraft.

Meeting this summer

Representatives with Cadillac Fairview and the WAA will attend a meeting of the province's municipal board in early June, which will consider the report findings. City council could then proceed with its own analysis and vote on the project, possibly in the fall.

Zarnowski said he's glad the report is done, but he isn't happy with how long it's taken to get here.

Even if the project is approved by city council in early fall, he said the project will need to go through another rezoning process and design review. That could take two more years.

He worries his clients won't stick around forever and Winnipeg could lose out on jobs and billions of dollars worth of development.

"We're going to be in a position where it's going to be seven years from the start of an application to potentially putting the first shovel in the ground on this project."