The Granite Curling Club has joined the annals of NIMBYism by decrying a housing project next to them because it will take away some of the parking they use. They are fighting a proposal for a housing project on city land adjacent to the club because they are losing 60 parking spots. The proposal by the City of Winnipeg is to build a building on an adjacent parking lot that will have 111 units, with 51 being dedicated to affordable housing.
Housing for about 200 people where currently 60 cars park, during curling season.
Parking? Really?
So, what does this actually mean for the curling club? Removing the parking behind the building sounds serious. Certainly the club has framed losing 60 parking spots as an “existential threat.”
Looking at the site plan, it is the building with the parking lot behind it. Seems pretty bad that the only parking for the Granite Curling Club is being removed. The Google Maps view below shows the building beside the existing parking lot, framed in red. As you can see, the entire area of the parking lot is going to be dedicated to the apartment building.
An Ocean of Parking
But that isn’t the only parking available for members of the Granite Curling Club. It is located on Granite Way, which has on-street parking on both sides of the street. And, more importantly, it is directly across the street from the Canada Life parking lot, which might just be the biggest parking lot in the downtown.
On top of that, the “time of use” for the parking in the area is complementary to Granite Curling Club operations. Canada Life uses the hundreds of parking spots during the weekdays, when their workers are present. Then, in the evenings and weekends, when the curling club is busiest, the Canada Life parking lot sits mostly empty. This is the perfect opportunity to maximize existing infrastructure, the very same principle behind the origins of Airbnb and Uber. Make use of something that is already there but not being used.
Below is the image of the surrounding area. Available on-street parking is in green, and the Canada Life parking lot is outlined in green. The existing curling club parking lot, and site of future proposed housing, is in red.
NIMBY
The opposition by the curling club smacks of NIMBYism. Granite Curling Club, possibly in recognition that the “losing our parking” argument doesn’t hold water, has resorted to other arguments we often hear from NIMBY’s. They aren’t opposed to housing, they just want a fair process, they need to be “engaged”, they “only found out about it at the last minute”.
I need to re-iterate a few of things here:
The site belongs to the City of Winnipeg
This will NOT destroy the Granite Curling Club (I don’t want that, no one wants that)
This is desperately needed housing for Winnipeggers.
This is the right place for this kind of housing and to address housing need.
The Many Reasons Why
Highest and Best Use
The City of Winnipeg should be looking for the highest and best use of public land. The Granite Curling Club building is in a heritage building and as an important institution and going concern, should be considered a best use. The Granite Curling Club should be maintained.
The parking lot behind it on the other hand, given its location and the absolute ocean of parking adjacent, can hardly be considered “highest and best use” of publicly owned land. For the city to maximize the use of the property, the right approach is to do exactly what they are undertaking: subdivide the property to separate the parking lot from the rest of the site, and then redevelop. This approach leaves the Granite Curling Club whole and functioning.
Revenue
Right now, the assessed value of the property that the Granite Curling Club occupies is $515,000. The estimated property tax for that property is about $5,000 a year. As we all know, and the City of Winnipeg relentlessly tells us, the City needs more revenue. We have just seen the largest property tax increase in decades. ( I have written on these pages about the state of city revenues).
Taking city owned property, that is generating very little tax revenue, such as a parking lot, and turning it into a tax revenue generating property is one other way to increase those revenues. Going from a parking lot to a building with 111 residential units will provide a substantial increase for city coffers.
Without knowing any of the details of the proposed project, we can still do a very back of the envelope guestimate as to the tax uplift for the City. Let’s say that the 111 units have a built average value of $200,000 per unit. That’s likely a low estimate, but an easy number to work with. That puts total property value, on completion, at $22M. Residential property taxes are paid on 45% of that value (the Curling Club is an Institutional use that pays tax on 65% of the assessed value). That means that with 2024 tax rates, the city will collect about $133,390 per year in property tax. That is a significant increase in revenue from the $5,000 it currently gets for the whole property.
Location Location Location
The location for this housing is on Granite Way. A very short walk from Osborne and Broadway, two major transit corridors. Granite Way itself has a separated bike lane providing safe and easy access to The Forks and Downtown. Osborne Village is a short 400m walk away, and Sherbrook, another major transit corridor, is a 600m walk away.
That means that for someone living there, they will have within a 10 minute walk a major grocery store, pharmacy, doctors offices, all the shopping and restaurants you might way, and connections through primary transit and cycling to the rest of the city.
The location for new housing is, in a word, ideal!
The Right Thing To Do
In the end, this is just the right thing to do. We desperately need more housing. We need more affordable housing. The goal of the city is to add more housing within our existing footprint. It is more economical, costs less to service, and provides better choices for the people who will be living there.
People over Cars
We have for far too long allowed parking to dominate our urban landscape. We have ended up with a city where about 20% of the downtown area is parking lot. We have people fighting housing for 200 people because they will lose 60 parking spots, when there are hundreds right across the street.
Whenever new housing is proposed, other than our grossly unsustainable urban sprawl, parking is often the number one issue that people are concerned about. We have been far more concerned about where cars are going to sleep than where people are going to sleep.
This proposal is a clear chance to say we value people more than parking.
brian