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Maintenance of Green Space in Manitoba Housing Development (Neighbourhoods of Bridgwater)

Jul 18, 2024

I’m receiving many emails on maintenance in Bridgwater Trails. Please know this is a top concern of mine also  – and that it is a weekly conversation with maintenance staff in the City and Province.

I want to present the facts so residents can review EACH of these points – and understand the details of each scenario.  It is easy to look at just one aspect and be upset and point fingers, but building a high end development on farm land is an involved process with MANY intertwined scenarios.

Please know – I am NOT ‘passing the buck’ but ensuring people have the ‘big picture’. Please know the maintenance will improve – Bridgewater Trails and Bridgwater Centre are active construction sites, and like Bridgwater Forest and Bridgwater Lakes, things will come together when the construction ends and residents settle in.  

THE DEVELOPER – MANITOBA HOUSING:

Manitoba Housing is a department in the Province of Manitoba. There are many different divisions within the department. Land Development is one division. For a variety of reasons, the Province decided to get into the land development business and develop 900+ acres  of farmland into “The Neighbourhoods of Bridgwater”. The Province of Manitoba has never ever undertaken a residential land development project this large – ever. This is the department’s first time doing a land development this large, and there have been many opportunities and many challenges and many lessons learned for the department.  Manitoba Housing’s land development branch does not have the decades of experience of other major residential land developers (Ladco, Qualico, Genstar, etc) so – there have been some challenges. I work with the key contacts at Manitoba Housing weekly – there are multiple issues to be worked through – and they will be addressed (trees / fencing / drainage / etc.) I have limited control over what they do and when they do it. This is a Provincial department and your elected representative is MLA David Pankratz. I am in contact with him on this issue regularly. Please feel free to reach out to MLA Pankratz

A VERY RAINY WET YEAR:

Without a doubt this is a wet year with lots of sun and heat.  Which means rapid growth of grass and weeds. I know City staff are struggling to keep up with mowing between rain and hot weather. In addition, very heavy lawn mowers can damage the grass when its wet so some areas just can’t be mowed till they are dry. Please know the City is working at peak capacity on the mowing and weeding issue.

NEW HOME OWNERS:

There are many first time home owners in the Waverley West ward. Many of the homeowners have lived in countries where land and home ownership was not possible. There are many things to learn about owning a new home, landscaping, care and maintenance is one such aspect.  Feel free to reach out to meet your new neighbour, and help them understand the City of Winnipeg’s by laws. You can download this Long Grass information sheet and provide them a copy to help them understand the by laws and prevent a by law officer from visiting. This can be done in a ‘helping’ vs ‘telling’ approach.  I’m not asking  you to take this on, but of course, any help alleviates pressure on the system. In a recent drive around I noted at least 65 homeowners were not in compliance in one newly developed area. By law officers will be sent out to educated and inform and seek compliance. In time, the majority of residents will learn and understand the neighbourhood liveability by laws and will adhere to the rules.

COMPLAINT BASED SYSTEM:

The City of Winnipeg’s By Law enforcement division operates on a complaint based system. You must report a complaint to 311@winnipeg.ca to have a by law officer come out to investigate an issue. Virtually every City in Canada works on the complaint based system. Currently, this is the system in place that we are working within. Would I like it to be more proactive – for sure – and will be advocating for change in the upcoming budget process – with a new Mayor.

TWICE THE GREENSPACE  – NEIGHBOURHOODS OF BRIDGWATER:

The Neighbourhoods of Bridgwater is the ONLY residential development that has twice the amount of public greenspace than any other development in the City of Winnipeg. Developers are required to allocate 10% of the land to public greenspace – Manitoba Housing allocated 20% to public greenspace for The Neighbourhoods of Bridgwater.  When Manitoba Housing completes phases of development, they hand the maintenance responsibilities over to the City of Winnipeg.  Upward of 300+ acres of public greenspace has been added with many new developments in the City of Winnipeg (Sage Creek, Amber Trails, etc.) BUT the parks operating budget has remained flat many years. The Mayor and his budget working group have not increased the operating budget. Every year, I and a few other Councillors make the case to increase parks operating funding – but have had no success in increasing the budget as other priorities rank higher. I am optimistic a new Mayor will recognize the value of maintained public greenspace, especially as COVID has motivated more people to experience outdoor spaces. Till then, the parks department is working to keep up with the public spaces they have taken ownership of from the developers.

CONSTRUCTION VS COMPLETION:

If you look at Bridgwater Forest and Bridgwater Lakes – maintenance is happening and things are looking good. Yes, there are a few homeowners that are still figuring out their responsibilities, but it is dramatically better than it was when it was in the initial construction stages. Bridgwater Trails and Bridgwater Centre are active construction zones. Manitoba Housing has upwards of 5 different landscaping firms working in the area on trees / drainage / new sod and more. The neighbourhoods will be spectacular when they are complete. This transition from farmland to high end development takes time and does not always go as smooth as everyone would like.

As always, if you have any comments, please email me at jlukes@winnipeg.ca