Flin Flon’s city council gave third and final reading to a pair of policy changes that could push the southern part of Willowvale Park closer to being the site of a new assisted living facility.
The pair of changes - an amendment to the City’s existing zoning plan to rezone the part of the park from being a park and recreation zone to a “multiple family dwelling zone” and to the City’s development plan, changing the area from “park and recreation development” to “residential development” - were approved by council March 5, months after they were first discussed.
The changes, councillors say, are the first steps to potentially developing the part of the park currently occupied by the former Willow Park Curling Club, the now-disused Willowvale wading pool and part of the playground into an assisted living facility. Councillors have had interest in rezoning the property and having the City sell it on to an as-of-yet-unnamed developer to open a housing complex for seniors and people with health or mobility issues.
“Now, we can talk to the developer. We couldn’t do anything when it wasn’t zoned properly,” said City chief administrative officer Lyn Brown.
A public meeting on the changes was held back in December, then councillors gave the changes second reading before sending them off to be approved by the Manitoba Municipal Board, an administrative group part of the provincial government that is tasked with reviewing and either approving or disapproving local zoning changes. Those changes, along with some local objections to the plan, were sent in January.
The ministry recently approved the change, paving the way for councillors to rubber-stamp it on final reading.
“We received an email saying we had approval to move forward,” said Brown, adding the word came in late February, around a week before the meeting.
What comes next is still to be decided - likely informing the developer that the property has been zoned to allow a project to take place. From there will come a planning process that may involve further public meetings, depending on the plans.
“I think the immediate plan would be to let the developer that’s interested in that property for assisted living that this has passed. Then at that point, we start up other conversations, which include building drawings, making sure there’s still interest and all that sort of stuff. That is all still broad-based conversation, but now we have this part of it completed,” said Brown.
If the land is developed, councillors and staff have said the nearby park and its play structures could be moved, including elsewhere in the same park. Council and executive staff have also said the nearby Joe Brain Petting Zoo would not be closed, though access to it may change pending on the plans - the road leading to the zoo runs right through the middle of the newly rezoned land.
The location is not the same one as the last time the City attempted to rezone part of the park back in 2022. The then-current city council proposed rezoning the northern part of the park for similar purposes, but that measure met instant opposition from residents who saw the move as potentially causing the permanent closure of the zoo. Those bylaw changes were never passed and all but one city councillor did not return for the current council, who were elected soon after. The new proposal covers a different portion of the park.
