Motion calling for City of Winnipeg to purchase Lemay Forest fails to pass committee vote
Property committee chair insists deal for St. Norbert green space still within reach
The future of the Lemay Forest in south Winnipeg remains in question after a motion to buy the land from a developer failed to pass at a city committee meeting on Thursday.
A push from residents to keep a stretch of the forest along the Red River in St. Norbert drew the support of area councillor Markus Chambers, but the property committee voted to take no action on his motion for the city to negotiate a purchase price with owner Tochal Developments.
"I am disappointed in the outcome of the vote on the motion," Chambers, who represents the St. Norbert-Seine River ward, told reporters after the vote.
The councillor said $3.1 million in federal and provincial funding has been allocated to the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation, a registered charity, for the purchase of a different plot of privately owned land known as the Sumka Forest.
After an agreement couldn't be reached to buy that property, the funds were reallocated to a potential purchase of the Lemay Forest, Chambers said.
But the city and other community partners need to come together with a plan to do it before the fiscal year ends on March 31, he said.
"If a decision can't be made on these lands, they would have to reallocate those funds to other projects. So there is some time sensitivity here."
Deal not dead, Rollins says
The chair of the property committee insists a deal can still be reached to buy a nearly nine-hectare (22-acre) parcel of land in St. Norbert — about a third of the total area commonly referred to as the Lemay Forest.
The committee passed a different motion from Coun. Sherri Rollins that would give the city's chief administrator the authority to acquire the land, as long as money is available.
The motion includes a direction to the public service to report back in 180 days on required amendments to the city's real estate framework for the authorization.
But Rollins says chief administrative officer Michael Jack could still negotiate the deal before the report comes back.
"A motion was needed to say, 'CAO, if you become aware that there is a group out there that has funds to buy up some strategic park land, urban forest, and augment the city's parks, then please catch that ball,'" she said.
Meanwhile, John Wintrup, who represents property owner Tochal Developments, says they're going ahead with their plans.
"We submitted our development application today to move forward with a development application to subdivide and rezone these properties, and we look forward to public hearing on this matter," said Wintrup.
The plans call for a 5,000-bed assisted living facility.
Tochal has not been contacted by anyone expressing interest in purchasing the section of the forest since a letter was sent to the City of Winnipeg on Oct. 18, Wintrup said.
He expects the city to make a decision on Tochal's application in the next 150 days.
Cemetery site in forest, researcher says
Residents living near the forest say they have used the land as open green space for decades, and advocates say preserving the forest would help the city reach its goals of increasing park space and maintaining the tree canopy.
One local researcher also says the land was used as a cemetery by an orphanage, the Asile Richot, which operated on the property from 1904 to 1948. The building is now home to the Behavioural Health Foundation.
The remains of hundreds of children who died over that period at the orphanage — which was overcrowded and had limited resources — may still be buried in the cemetery, said Shelley Sweeney, an archivist emerita at the University of Manitoba and a member of OURS (Outdoor Urban Recreational Spaces) Winnipeg, an environmental advocacy group.
The cemetery was deconsecrated after the orphanage closed, and some reports suggest the remains may have been moved, but no one knows where, Sweeney said. A map created by the federal government shows the cemetery still in its original location in 1970.
Sweeney hopes the city can still reach a deal with the developer to acquire the land.
"It's really important, I think, that the property be acquired and that the cemetery be respected. At the very least, it's the burial ground."
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