Corydon-Osborne development plan scrapped

Angry business owners have succeeded in getting a city committee to scrap a major development plan for Winnipeg's Corydon-Osborne area.

A heated meeting of the city's property committee began Tuesday morning at city hall with several business owners from Corydon Avenue calling the proposed plan's preliminary recommendations excessively restrictive and insulting.

The Corydon BIZ members blame city planners and area Coun. Jenny Gerbasi for the report, which was still in development.

The business owners say the plan will assign more regulations in that area than other areas of the city and will kill growth on Corydon as a result.

"It's a no-growth, shut-us-down, shut-Corydon-down-and-the-neighbourhood-down document. It's full of rules and regulations that prohibit the entrepreneurial spirit and drive to continue," said Pizza Hotline owner Jerry Cianflone, who owns the Café 22 restaurant on Corydon Avenue.

Cianflone had won a battle with city hall last year to expand his property. His initial proposal was turned down, but he fought it.

Similarly, Cianflone not long ago presented a plan to build a five-unit condo on a single property parcel that was once home to a single-family dwelling on Nassau Street North in the area.

The pitch was turned down by a committee, of which Gerbasi was a member. Cianflone appealed the decision and won. It was later given approval by council.

Cianflone and other Corydon BIZ representatives say the opposition to development in the area comes from a small group of retired homeowners who have a NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) sentiment.

City urged to hire consultant instead

He urged the city to kill the proposed plan and hire a third-party consultant to draft a new one that will enable development in area.

'A huge amount of resources have gone into it [and] it's now being cancelled in midstream. It's a waste of taxpayers' money.' —Coun. Jenny Gerbasi

Cianflone said a new report will be better for everyone, "but only if our local councillor and our city planning department are out of that process."

Gerbasi said the protest of Corydon plan was premature because it had not even been written yet.

She said she was stunned by the vehement opposition from the businesses, who she said would have had a say in the planning process.

"I'm almost speechless. I've never heard of anything like this. A huge amount of resources have gone into it [and] it's now being cancelled in midstream. It's a waste of taxpayers' money," Gerbasi said.

City planners and the project's community planning advisory committee (CPAC) have been holding a series of open houses over the past year to present their ideas and gather feedback to shape the plan's key concepts.

By noon, after lengthy debates about the plan, Coun. Russ Wyatt introduced a motion to disband the plan and start anew with more input from businesses.

"We shouldn't have had to deal with this today and move this motion. It should've been resolved in the community, working together. That didn't happen; that's why it came to us," Wyatt later told reporters.

Coun. Mike Pagtakhan said he was willing to give Gerbasi the benefit of doubt and not cancel the plan before it is written.

However, a vote was passed to suspend the plan and start fresh. The final decision still rests with council as a whole, which will meet later this month.