The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Converting the former church on Hill Street into an apartment complex would create a parking nightmare, neighbourhood residents argued Tuesday. Six residents living near the former Northminster Memorial United Church attended the Flin Flon City Council meeting to speak out against a proposal to rezone the landmark to accommodate multiple dwellings. "How much more increased traffic, with the general public coming to visit, is this going to bring when we're already very strapped for parking?" asked one woman. The parking situation was strenuous when the building was used as a church, said one opponent, adding that the rezoning would result in the "same riffraff that we had before." But traffic wasn't their only worry. The residents also expressed concern that the apartment would mean more noise and garbage in the neighbourhood, and that any children living in the building would play on the street because they would not have a yard. After some discussion, council voted 5-2 in favour of the second reading of a motion to rezone the building, with Mayor Dennis Ballard and Councillor Nazir Ahmad opposing. Any further objections must now go to the province's Municipal Board, which will make a recommendation on the rezoning to Manitoba Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Maryann Mihychuk. If Minister Mihychuk supports the rezoning, the matter will go back to council for a third and final reading, which, if passed, would give the project the green light. Scott Bryson, the man proposing the renovation, attended the meeting and defended the project. On the issue of parking, he said an abandoned house beside the church could be torn down to accommodate vehicles and added that parking is also available in front of the former church. See 'My' P.# Con't from P.# With regard to other concerns, Bryson said he would live in the building and ensure it would be a respectable residence. "I'm not planning on running some kind of kids' hangout or anything like that," he said. "My intentions are honourable and I want a better community with my property." Bryson is considering constructing wheelchair-accessible dwellings, possibly four of them, within the building, saying he believes there is a shortage of this type of housing. There were mixed feelings toward the proposal around the council table. "One of the things that we struggle with in our community is the aging buildings and nothing new happening," said Councillor Cal Huntley. "I have to wonder if a new facility with new people might not generate a different kind of neighbourhood where maybe things are looked after better, and there's some new life in the neighbourhood and that kind of a thing, realizing, of course, that the parking and traffic are an issue." Councillor Tom Therien said he understood the residents' concerns but would also like to see the landmark church be utilized and remain standing. "The unfortunate thing is, if we don't do something with it, it stands a good chance, I would assume, of possibly coming down," he said. Added Councillor Nazir Ahmad: "I'm all for development, but I'm not for development at any cost." At one point, Bryson asked the group of opponents if they had any suggestions for alternate uses for the building, to which one man said, "We just don't want another apartment in that area. We're sick and tired of apartments." The towering former church, currently zoned as a single family dwelling, has been a fixture of Flin Flon's landscape since 1947. The spacious building hasn't been used as a church in years, as a new Northminster Memorial United Church was built on Bracken Street.
