Q: Do you suppose the wooded area right behind the Royalwood Estates townhomes leading onto Precinct K will be removed? I was told years ago that a good chunk of land running behind the homes (to the CPKC Emerson line) was Hydro property and that the nasty willow trees will never be removed.
A: Interesting question. The trees that you mention are found on an undeveloped city road, Four Mile Road, which also accommodates a Manitoba Hydro right-of-way. The tree stand is clearly shown on the Precinct K tree report. The land is not indicated as a future Active Transportation pathway. The projected east-west AT trail for the area is actually found to its south.
First, some background. In a pre-emptive move Warde Developments Ltd., the condo developers to the north of the line of trees, once tried to buy the subject lands (October 1, 2012). The unsolicited offer of purchase was made 2 years before the Precinct K area precinct plan was created and approved. No environmental or transportation studies were made for the undeveloped area at the time. Despite that omission the Riel Community Committee thought that this was an excellent idea. (There is a reason why former Councillor Justin Swandel is now a developer.) The committee voted to close that part of the road allowance, declare it surplus, and to sell the land. (File DAC 4/2012). This was done without consulting local watchdog Save Our Seine, as the subject lands were at the farthest end of the adjoining riverbank property. For unknown reasons the land sale fell through.
An industry insider told me that after the Lac-Mégantic railway tragedy the City may have had second thoughts about the Precinct K streets and transportation plan designed by the consultants. The City already owns an unbuilt street ROW, Sioux Road West, on the west side of the CPKC railroad tracks. Like Pebble Beach Road in Southdale, the Sioux Road West ROW parallels the railroad tracks. The final design for South Royalwood’s roadways may still change. Putting new resident’s backyards directly next to the railway track used for sending most of Manitoba’s crude oil exports to the USA may not be a good idea after all. (Sorry Bonavista. Too late for you.)
The final placement and layout of the new parks intended for South Bonavista and South Royalwood has yet to be fully determined. SOS will certainly get its linear riverside park in South Royalwood and South Bonavista will get a neighbourhood park of its own. There will be Active Transportation trails, possibly paralleling some of the preserved tree stands. Similar treed wildlife corridors in Sage Creek on its Four Mile Road ROW were plowed down and destroyed without any protest. Hopefully Precinct K will retain at least some of its treelines. How to fund the acquisition of larger forests like the “Smith Park Coulee” or the “Qualico Forest” has not been discussed, never mind decided, by the City.
Will the tree stand on Four Mile Road still be standing in 2035? That has yet to be determined.
