For the second time in as many years, Flin Flon city council is proposing a bylaw change that could, if passed, set the table for a seniors’ housing development to be built at Willowvale Park - but this time, with changes.
City council gave first reading to a bylaw change that would alter zoning for a portion of Willowvale Park, changing it from “park and recreation development” to “residential development”. The change, according to councillors and executive City staff, is to make land available for purchase as part of a possible deal to build seniors’ housing on the site.
Unlike the last time land in Willowvale Park was being discussed for rezoning in 2022, this time, the land being discussed is the southern portion of the park - the area now occupied by the former Willow Park Curling Club, the now-disused Willowvale wading pool and, most likely, the existing playground at the park and two nearby storage buildings.
Last fall, a public row erupted after the previous city council proposed rezoning the northern part of the park, where the petting zoo is located, to potentially build a seniors’ housing complex. The proposal met immediate opposition from the public, who packed the last council meeting before local elections last fall to have councillors reconsider the move. The proposal was eventually tabled by the previous council, then never passed by the new group after the election.
Much like the last time rezoning of the park came up last year, councillors did not confirm the identity of the group or person interested in buying or developing the land. No one on council confirmed how far along talks to buy the land have gotten as of last week or any prices or dollar amounts at the meeting, but did often use the phrase “investment ready” - one that was used frequently during the zoning controversy last year.
“I think it’s too early to say (what it will look like) - right now, we’re wanting to be investment ready, so we’re going to wait and see what the developer comes back to us with, a proposal for us to look at,” said councillor Steve Lytwyn, who sat as deputy mayor during the meeting - Mayor George Fontaine, out of town due to a family health emergency, was not present at the meeting.
“There is potential there and the offer that we’re looking at is for an assisted living complex,” said councillor Alison Dallas-Funk about the project. Dallas-Funk said that, while the potential developer is different from the one the City almost worked with last year, the scope of the project is similar. Lytwyn referred to the possible developer as a private entity, but did not name them.
Members of the public asked councillors whether they or the City had pitched other areas currently either disused or underused within city limits, such as the former Creekside ball diamond, as a possible site for a housing project. Councillors said while pitches were made for other sites, the unnamed buyers were most interested in building at Willowvale Park - though their initial offer was for the land where the zoo is located, an offer the City refused and steered to the other part of the park.
“They actually wanted the property mentioned in the original offer, with the previous council - we declined and offered the other side, because it’s also keeping some green space as well. That is something desirable for a complex,” said Dallas-Funk.
The wading pool has not operated since 2017 - recirculation and filter issues with the pool’s water supply closed it before the 2018 season and it has not reopened since.
If the rezoning goes through and something is built on the site, the petting zoo would remain at its current site, but a build and construction would also remove public road access to the zoo and at least part of the parking lot just south of the zoo, although City crews can still access the site through the north just off Balsam Avenue. The playground nearby would also likely be moved north, closer to the zoo, according to councillors.
Before the last rezoning discussion, the petting zoo had been closed for the summer of 2022, with city councillors claiming that safety concerns over a potential replacement to the Flin Flon Aqua Centre being built on the southern part of Willowvale Park were a reason for the move. Councillors also said at the time that, if a pool was built on the southern part of the park and seniors’ housing on the north, that the zoo would be moved off-site instead of permanently closed, though members of the public openly cast doubt on that claim at meetings.
Since the original closure of the zoo in 2022, the Aqua Centre project was moved from Willowvale to the former site of the pool near Ash Crescent and Aspen Grove, after geotechnical work on the Willowvale site proved that it was not cost-effective for the City to build a pool there. The change allowed councillors to switch the rezoning to the southern portion of the park - the zoo itself reopened this summer after being closed in 2022.
When asked if the same geotechnical issues that caused the pool build to be moved might cause problems for a future seniors’ housing complex, executive staff said that the footprint of the new build might not be the same as the pool proposal, saying construction needs between the two projects would be different.
“Part of the difficulty with the pool there in the first design that was talked about was the cost of blasting that would be required. In that case, this would not be blasting required by us - it would be up to the developer, once they determine what they want the facility to look like, what they need and so on,” said City chief administrative officer Lyn Brown.
“The cost to blast for the pool would be borne by us - we needed to look at something that was going to be more financially feasible."
