Tree clearing in south Winnipeg’s Lemay Forest set to start in next month, planner says

Posted on June 20, 2024 by Peggy

The developer behind a plan to build housing in the Lemay Forest says tree clearing is set to start in the coming weeks.

Tochal Development Group has proposed building a 2,500-unit, 5,000-bed assisted-living facility on the land in Winnipeg’s St. Norbert area.

Some residents, Indigenous groups, and wildlife advocates have opposed the plan, which would involve removing most of the trees on the property.

“Over the next month we are going to be intensifying our activities on the land in terms of our archaeology work and tree removal,” said planner John Wintrup, who represents the developer.

“I would say it’s going to be a significant amount [of trees] by the fall time, ideally 100 per cent, but we’re likely going to keep some trees around there for aesthetic purposes only.”

Opponents of the plan say the forest is an important habitat and ceremonial site for Indigenous people.

The remnants of a cemetery connected to a former orphanage are also on the site.

Wintrup says his team has been surveying the site of the cemetery with the intent to preserve it.

A hearing on a rezoning application related to the project is set for Monday at the Riel Community Committee. The application seeks to rezone the property located at 823 Lemay Ave., in order to demolish the single-family house currently occupying the site in order to create a road giving access to the property.

Regardless of whether that application is approved, Wintrup says the tree-clearing work will go ahead.

“It would be a lot [more] efficient if we had an access point on the property from a public right of way, but we can bring in people with chainsaws and axes and, well, that’s what we’re planning to do,” he said.

One opponent of the plan questioned why the developer would move ahead with cutting down trees before the plan is approved.

“It would be tragic if he did go in and just clear cut the forest, but I don’t see how that would help them,” said Cat Macaulay Gauthier, a member of the Coalition to Save Lemay Forest.

“I mean, he doesn’t have a permit, he doesn’t have approval for anything. There’s been no zoning variances, nothing.”

Multiple groups have put forward offers to buy the land from the developer

The president of Tochal Development Group, Mazyar Yahyapour, wrote a Winnipeg Free Press op-ed responding to the opposition.

“No credible proposals were submitted … [Neighbours] showed intolerance towards others’ views. Their solitary perspective is my lands are their lands for their personal benefit, which is to have nothing in their backyards,” he wrote.

A city report on the rezoning application recommends reducing the size of the proposed development to 791 units.

Wintrup says that would make the project unfeasible.

“And that shows you the level of commitment [city planners] lack towards doing anything about the housing crisis in Canada,” he said.

“It just means there will be a vacant piece of land with no trees on it, and no housing, and no nothing.”