Monday night, the Thompson District Planning Board confirmed the amendment to the bylaw which would allow the lands in the area of the proposed University College of the North (UCN) campus near the rec centre to be rezoned as public and institutional, and allow for residences on that site.
After an hour of discussion on the subject, the board voted 6-3 in favour of confirming the amendment, which sends it back to city council for third reading, expected to happen Jan. 24.
Voting in favour were board chair Tim Johnston, as well as board members Dennis Fenske, Charlene Lafreniere, Penny Byer, Brian Barton, and Corrine Stewart. (Stewart represents the Local Government District of Mystery Lake and Barton is an employee of Manitoba Conservation, the rest of the planning board is composed of Thompson's mayor and council.)
Opposed to the resolution were board members Luke Robinson, Stella Locker, and Judy Kolada. Erin Stewart attended part of the meeting via telephone, but left before the vote could take place, while Brad Evenson made his now-customary brief appearance at the beginning of the meeting before declaring a conflict of interest on the matter.
At a Jan. 10 public hearing on the issue, 16 delegations spoke against pushing forward with the amendment, while 12 were in favour and one did not commit either way (an informal tally reported in the Jan. 12 Citizen claimed 13 were in favour and 16 opposed).
Fenske, Lafreniere and Johnston all suggested that some of the board members on the other side of the debate were looking beyond the simple zoning issue in the resolution, and voting based on their wider views of what UCN would do with that land once it was rezoned. "Separating the emotion from the task that the planning board has to deal with, there's a task in front of us," said Fenske. "It has to do with zoning. It has to do with a request to make it fit from a planning perspective. From that perspective only, I totally support the amendment to ensure that housing goes hand-in-hand with the campus."
"There is a lot at stake," noted Byer, who used her first remarks to lay out what she felt were the strongest arguments on each side, including Thompson's housing shortage and the opinions of single mother students - the type who would be likely to live in UCN's proposed residences - that the proposed townhouses were the least desirable type of housing for them, without making a firm commitment to vote either way. She would later offer her support in favour of the resolution, but suggested that the city and UCN should seriously explore alternative housing models.
"Students need housing, but not on our recreation grounds," said Locker, repeating one of the most common arguments against the housing from the previous week. "[The rec centre] has always been our meeting place, it's the centre of our community, and I'd like to keep it so for the current residents - but also I'd like to welcome other people and their children to enjoy the grounds that we have." Locker also raised concerned about how the children in the proposed housing would be sent to school, and whether they would have to cross busy streets on foot to get to Westwood or Deerwood.
"When we sat here last week and listened to all the presentations, the majority of people objected to the style and location," said Robinson. "The majority of the people are not in favour, so we have to remember that when we're making a decision." Robinson also noted that keeping students isolated in one spot was a form of segregation, preventing proper integration of those students into Thompson at large. "I do realize they're students, they're students with families - and yes, we can accommodate them," he said. "We don't have to sacrifice what has been hard work for Thompsonites who have been here a long time, building the rec centre to what it is today."
Kolada noted the lack of interest shown in looking at other sites for housing, and questioned if the Polaris buildings - scheduled to remain with UCN if they can find any purpose for them - could be turned into family housing. "I truly believe that the majority of Thompsonites are opposed to this," she said. "I've talked to a number of people, and I've had a number of calls."
"There is only one motive that matters to me, and that's the motive regarding the best interest for the City of Thompson and Northern Manitoba," said Johnston, adding that in his view the public hearing had little to do with the amendment itself. "I don't accept individuals coming and suggesting anything that is serving to protect their interests. Unfortunately, because this debate got off the intent of the resolution, that's what we ended up with."
"History is an interesting thing, because sometimes it gets morphed into something it really wasn't," continued Johnston, noting that the rec centre was originally designed to be temporary, and that a permanent facility had been planned for the Norplex area before being scrapped.
