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.
The Manitoba Municipal Board will make a recommendation on the fate of a landmark church as early as next week. The board has until Aug. 13 to make a judgment on whether the former Northminster Memorial United Church should be rezoned to accommodate apartment dwellings. The board will make a suggestion on the issue to Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Rosann Wowchuk, who will either accept the judgment or overrule it. The minister's ruling would be binding, though appeals could still be made to the Court of Queen's Bench. If Minister Wowchuk supports the rezoning, the matter will go back to Flin Flon City Council for a motion, which, if passed, would give the project the green light. Flin Flon's Scott Bryson wants to renovate the towering Hill St. building to include a handful of rental suites, possibly designed for people confined to wheelchairs. But he has met strong opposition from a group of neighbourhood residents who worry the development would create a parking nightmare, bring more noise and garbage, and leave children who live in the building to play on the street because they would not have a yard. "We just don't want another apartment in that area. We're sick and tired of apartments," said one opponent. Two weeks ago, Bryson,he opponents, and City representatives met with the independent Municipal Board at City Hall to outline the situation. Council has already twice okayed the rezoning. "The unfortunate thing is, if we don't do something with [the building], it stands a good chance, I would assume, of possibly coming down," said Coun. Tom Therien. The former church, a fixture of Flin Flon's landscape since 1947, is currently zoned as a single family dwelling.
