A small park lot in Eastview could someday hold a multi-family development.
A rezoning to R-2 multi-residential was approved by Red Deer city council on Monday, with only Coun. Dianne Wyntjes voting to keep 3733 45 Street as green space in the end.
Council heard the grassy corner lot had been a playground since the 1950s, but its old-fashioned playground equipment was removed for safety reasons in 1992, and the land has since sat empty.
Up until Monday, the community had not rallied around getting a new playground built on it, since there were playgrounds and more greenspace available at two schools within a few blocks of it.
But a proposal by the City of Red Deer’s land and economic development department to turn this lot into multi-residential housing did bring out a few opponents, who tried to have the green space preserved.
Neighbourhood residents Heather Morigeau and Stewart McTavish had argued that this portion of Eastview would be better served by a park than more multi-residential housing.
Morigeau, who is of Indigenous background, wanted to gain neighbourhood support to create a shrubbery-designed labyrinth in the shape of a First Nations medicine wheel on the lot as a reconciliation project and place for meditation.
McTavish noted some run-down multi-residential places on the street are already making his tenant feel unsafe. He thought the neighbourhood would be better off with more green space.
Although Wyntjes as well as Coun. Victor Doerksen initially liked the idea of keeping a park on the spot, city staff raised the local lack of accessible housing, which is badly needed by many local families.
City senior planner Dayna Facca said the double size of this lot makes it feasible for a multi-family development as it is about twice the size of a single-family lot.
Coun. Vesna Higham tried to see if the rest of council had an appetite to get this land potentially rezoned for two single-family R1A zoned lots, which might be more amenable to their neighbourhood. But the majority liked the flexibility of R-2 zoning, noting a future developer could still apply for a single-family under a multi-family development designation.
Coun. Kraymer Barnstable was satisfied a new development could still enhance the street, while increasing density in the older neighbourhood and providing more badly needed housing.
