Mayor’s cabinet ignores ruling, forges ahead with housing on curling club’s parking lot

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/12/2025 (277 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A hotly contested effort to approve a housing proposal for the Granite Curling Club’s parking lot is moving forward without changes recommended by the Manitoba Municipal Board.

On Tuesday, council’s executive policy committee voted to approve an 11-storey, 110-unit residential building for the city-owned land. Half of the suites would have affordable rent for 99 years.

“We need housing right now… and this project proposes over 100 units, many of them affordable units on city land. I believe that we can have a win-win situation here, where we get new housing built at the time when people need housing, while still establishing a new lease with the Granite Curling Club that accommodates their parking needs,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham.

If council casts a final vote of approval, the path forward will not include a Manitoba Municipal Board direction that the city and club develop an “adequate” parking plan “to the satisfaction of the Granite Curling Club” and city.

The club appealed the city’s original decision to allow the housing proposal to the municipal board. The club argued the location would eliminate 45 of its 80 parking stalls, rendering its operation no longer financially viable.

The municipal board decision was issued in November.

A curling club representative said he was disappointed to be denied a request to speak on the matter during Tuesday’s EPC meeting because a hearing on the housing proposal previously closed.

“It’s a brand-new issue… I think EPC should have all the information available to them before they make such a big decision, because ignoring provincial legislation is a big decision,” said Christian Pierce, secretary of the club’s board.

Provincial legislation prohibits city council from passing a zoning bylaw that doesn’t conform to municipal board recommendations, so many people considered the directive binding.

However, a recent city staff report concluded the parking plan condition is “not in respect of the proposed bylaw” and the provincial board has “no authority” to impose it on a development permit. That means city council is not legally bound to follow it, the report states.

Gillingham, and others at city hall, have argued the board’s direction would amount to giving the curling club, a tenant at the site, veto power over its development.

On Tuesday, the mayor said he’s confident the city does not have to follow the board’s decision.

“Our public service, in consultation with our legal department, has indicated that the municipal board really overreached,” said Gillingham.

Pierce said the curling club believes the city’s interpretation of the board’s recommendations is wrong and will challenge the decision, possibly through legal means.

“In my view, they’d be passing an illegal bylaw,” he said.

EPC also voted to direct city staff to negotiate a new lease agreement with the curling club that includes “new parking stalls and enables paid parking on site.”

Pierce supported that effort.

“In terms of a new lease agreement, it’s something we’ve been trying to get for years,” he said.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.