Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 13, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba B2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM THE owner of a Charleswood property that used to host a popular holiday at- traction wants to build housing, com- mercial buildings and a Nordic-style spa on the site — but would have to jump several hurdles to see the project through. Paul Taylor’s late father, Bill Taylor, ran the Assiniboine Valley Railway, a miniature train and drive-thru Christ- mas light show that attracted thousands to the property, at 3001 Roblin Blvd., adjacent to Assiniboine Park, before it shut down in 2021. Taylor said Wednesday he has part- nered with Cibinel Architecture Ltd. and is in early talks with city planning staff to re-develop the property: the first phase involves three one-storey commercial spaces, while later phases include a three-storey, 82-unit 55-plus residential building and a spa. “I’m picturing things like coffee shops, personal services… things that would mesh nicely with the residential and commercial uses that are already along Roblin, something that’s designed with intention (and) esthetically comple- ments the community,” Taylor said. To date, no applications have been filed to the city to begin development. Currently, the wastewater pump sta- tion for the area doesn’t have the cap- acity to handle multi-family housing or a spa, and part of the property falls under airport vicinity protection area regulations that ban new residential de- velopment. Evan Duncan, the city councillor who represents the area, is skeptical the pro- ject will come to fruition considering the “significant” issues related to de- velopment. “We’re talking about a single-family residential neighbourhood, we’re talk- ing about next door neighbours to the Assiniboine Park Conservancy and green spaces,” said Duncan (Charles- wood-Tuxedo-Westwood), who is also the chair of city council’s property and development committee. “How many barriers need to be over- come for this to even be considered? I don’t know that, given the current situ- ation with that property, that it is some- thing that is even going to be considered at this point in time.” Taylor outlined his vision at a com- munity open house on Oct. 28. Duncan said constituents who are concerned about the proposal, including with the demolition of trees on the site, have reached out to his office. “I just think it’s a little bit disingenu- ous to go out to the community in this stage of the game with that scope of, for lack of better words, pie-in-the-sky ideas,” he said. Taylor said he wants to work with the city to help upgrade the pump station and would develop the property in line with airport regulations. “It’s a hurdle, but it’s not a brick wall. It can be jumped,” he said. Earlier this year, Taylor said he de- molished buildings, including his child- hood home, and trees on the property, because he was concerned about van- dalism caused by squatters. Larry Stefanec’s home is directly be- hind the property. He said he isn’t the only one who has concerns about the scope of Taylor’s proposal. “We always knew there was going to be some sort of development there, but we figured that it would fit more into the neighbourhood, like single-family dwellings.” Hundreds of trees were taken down, which likely eroded the neighbours’ trust, he said. “We’ve never had any issues with sec- urity, in fact, it’s been quite peaceful… demo the houses and keep the (forest) until you have a solidified plan that brings trust to the neighbourhood,” he said. Taylor said he’d like to plant 150 decorative trees and “have a train theme throughout” to honour the rail- way attraction pioneered by his father. He said objectors may not recog- nize the proposed residential buildings would be smaller than similar develop- ments across the city. “A lot of that, I think, is fear of the un- known and not necessarily understand- ing the scope of things,” he said. malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca O NE of the Manitoba First Nations chiefs directing the transforma- tion of the former Kapyong Bar- racks is concerned the city’s expansion of Kenaston Boulevard is not moving quickly enough. Brokenhead Chief Gordon Bluesky said Wednesday that both residen- tial and commercial development of Naawi-Oodena is well underway — including construction of a 260-unit apartment complex — and the city needs to hold up its end of the deal by moving forward with the widening of Kenaston (Route 90). “We’ve already done our part. We set aside those lands for the expansion. So, we’re waiting for the rest of the gov- ernments to come together and fast- track that because at the end of the day, if we start building … and then we got a major construction happening at Route 90, it’s going to impact our busi- nesses, it’s going to impact our homes,” Bluesky said. Brokenhead is one of seven Treaty 1 First Nations which formed the Treaty One Development Corp. and oversees the Naawi-Oodena site. Treaty One set aside about 10 hec- tares of land for the Kenaston wid- ening, Bluesky said. Bluesky and city, provincial and federal representatives were at the Naawi-Oodena site Wednesday to an- nounce the federal government has opened its requests for qualifications — details and experience with pre- fabricated, modular and “mass tim- ber” — for a 320-unit, mixed income housing development on the lands. In September, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the newly minted Build Canada Homes federal agency would develop thousands of affordable housing units to increase the nation’s housing stock. Winnipeg was chosen as one of six cities for the agency’s initial projects. The projects are being carried out by Canada Lands, a federal Crown corporation responsible for real estate and development. Canada Lands owns 32 per cent of the 65-hectare site and Treaty One owns the remainder. The plan for the Canada Lands por- tion of the Naawi-Oodena site is to have at least 40 per cent of the units listed at below-market value. The added units will bring added traffic on the route and the Kenaston project is “critical” to the success of Naawi-Oodena, Mayor Scott Gilling- ham said at the conference. “Route 90 right now, as you know, if you travelled it… it can get pretty backed up. Now think about adding the exciting fact of adding 3,000 housing units and up to a million square feet of commercial space. That will put in- creased pressure on that key economic artery,” Gillingham said. On Oct. 30, city council voted 11-2 in favour taking the first steps to begin planning the expansion next year. The city would earmark $5 million to start property acquisitions and set early planning to begin in 2027, pending ap- proval in the city’s 2026 budget, to be released Friday. Construction could begin as soon as 2028. The megaproject would widen Kenaston-Route 90 to offer three lanes in each direction between Taylor and Ness avenues. It would also replace the St. James bridges, separate aging pipes to reduce combined sewer over- flows and add active-transportation pathways on both sides of Kenaston. It’s expected to cost $614 million, plus $143 million in interest, if the city funds it entirely by debt. The request for qualifications for the Naawi-Oodena housing units clos- es on Dec. 22. Selected proponents will proceed to the request for proposals stage in early 2026. nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca NEWS I MANITOBA THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2025 Another $8.3 million would be reallo- cated from a multi-family sustainable infrastructure grant to pay for infra- structure that supports mixed-income housing projects at 825 Taché Ave. and 1350 Pembina Hwy. That funding would improve sewer service at both sites as well as enhance the Pembina property’s back lane. An additional $2 million would be di- verted from the same grant and help fund a pilot catch basin program. That sewage expansion would be expected to increase capacity to serve up to 3,000 more housing units in the future, though actual construction would de- pend on market demand. “Winnipeg has older infrastructure and many of our existing neighbour- hoods are on the combined sewer (sys- tem) and that presents barriers to de- velopment. So, our investment in these areas is unlocking development poten- tial,” said Rappaport. The multi-family sustainable housing infrastructure grant, through which the city only approved one project, of- fered funding for local water or sew- er infrastructure that supports new housing projects with a minimum of 50 units. The city suspects tight permit deadlines, and possibly the minimum unit number, deterred some applicants. The sole grant that was approved will provide $1.18 million to help fund sew- er and water upgrades for a develop- ment slated to add 118 new homes in its first phase at Gull Lake and Markham Road. Mayor Scott Gillingham said he will likely support all of the staff recom- mendations. “If we move ahead and support our city staff on these innovative ideas related to catch basins and sewer dis- tricts, it will enable developers to de- velop in a (higher) density” and allow much-needed housing to be built, said Gillingham. Overall, the city is slated to receive $122.4 million from the federal accel- erator fund, which began in December 2023. The city must approve building permits for 14,101 housing units by De- cember 2026, including 3,166 directly supported by the fund, to claim its final federal payment. Winnipeg is on track to meet its re- quired milestones, though tariffs and delays in other housing funding could create future risks, the report notes. As of November, the city has ob- tained 66 per cent of the total required permits, the mayor said. “These statistics… today show that the Housing Accelerator Fund pro- gram is working, that the city is get- ting more units built,” said Gillingham. joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca X: @joyanne_pursaga HOUSING ● FROM B1 THE father of a woman arrested after her infant daughter died with metham- phetamine in her bloodstream told a court Wednesday he never saw any evi- dence his daughter was using drugs at the time of the girl’s death. “Not while I was around,” Lou Muise testified at the trial of his daughter Ali- son Muise. “I didn’t see liquor or beer in the house. I didn’t see her being high, drunk or anything.” Alison Muise, 42, is on trial charged with one count of failing to provide the necessaries of life. Three-month-old Layla Mattern-Muise was rushed to hospital Feb. 2, 2022, after Muise and the child’s father Christopher Mattern awoke to find her not breathing. She was pronounced dead that day. Mattern pleaded guilty to failing to provide necessaries of life and was sen- tenced in August to 21 months of time served. An autopsy detected the presence of methamphetamine in Layla’s blood- stream, but not the amount, and a cause of death could not be determined, court has previously heard. The child was born with respiratory issues, spent a month in hospital before she went home and had suffered a collapsed lung prior to her death. Police photos taken inside Muise’s Westdale townhouse following the child’s death showed a home in disarray, with garbage on the floors and drug para- phernalia clearly visible. Lou Muise said the pictures bore no resemblance to the home he visited up to four times a week, the last time just two days before Layla died. “This is messy, cluttered,” Muise said, referring to the police photographs. “There was never stuff all over the floor. It was never like this. It was tidier, things were put in place.” Under cross-examination, Muise said he didn’t accept the results of a drug test administered by Child and Family Servi- ces that showed his daughter had previ- ously tested positive for meth. “In fact, you didn’t believe your daugh- ter was doing meth at any time,” Crown attorney Alanna Littman said to Muise. “No, and I still don’t,” he said, alleging his daughter had been given the wrong test. A former roommate previously testi- fied he, Alison Muise and Mattern were all using meth daily when he lived at the home and that the home was a magnet for other drug users in the area. Lou Muise told court Wednesday he was unaware his daughter and Mattern had a roommate, and thought the man was a caretaker for the residential com- plex. Muise agreed on cross-examination that the police pictures of her daugh- ter’s home depicted an environment that placed her young daughter “in harm’s way.” “She wasn’t safe in that house on the date that she died and leading up to it,” Littman put to Muise. “Doesn’t look like it,” he said. Alison Muise testified in September she had no idea anyone in her home was using methamphetamine. “I wouldn’t know what (methampheta- mine) looked like,” she told court. When shown a picture of what Crown attorney Jennifer Malabar said was a meth pipe found in a bedside table draw- er, Muise said: “It’s some sort of contrap- tion, yes,” but could not confirm it was what Malabar said it was. Another picture taken the same day Layla died showed a baby bottle on Muise’s bed that was found to have traces of methamphetamine. “I can’t confirm I fed her out of that bottle or how long it had been on the bed,” she said. Closing arguments in the case will be heard Dec. 10. dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca Grandfather of baby who died with meth in her bloodstream testifies in daughter’s trial DEAN PRITCHARD NICOLE BUFFIE City needs to fast-track Route 90 expansion for Naawi-Oodena project, First Nation chief says MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Brokenhead Chief Gordon Bluesky and city, provincial and federal representatives were at the Naawi-Oodena site Wednesday morning to announce the next step in the development of a 320-unit housing complex on the land. MALAK ABAS ‘Pie in the sky’ development proposed for Charleswood property attracts criticism MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES CIBINEL ARCHITECTURE Paul Taylor (left) has partnered with Cibinel Architecture Ltd. and is in early talks with city plan- ning staff to redevelop the property at 3001 Roblin Blvd. Above: a rendering of the proposal. IN BRIEF CAR WINDOWS SMASHED, MAN ARRESTED A MAN was arrested after someone smashed windows of parked vehicles outside a Shop- pers Drug Mart on Wednesday. Winnipeg Police Service officers were sent to 795 Keewatin St. at about 10 a.m. Police could not immediately provide further details or say what charges the man might face. TV THIEF THREATENS EMPLOYEE: POLICE POLICE are looking for a woman who threat- ened a store employee with a large knife while trying to steal a TV on Sunday morning. Police said the employee was threatened at about 11 a.m., when they approached the thief in the store’s parking lot on the 1000 block of Empress Street. An off-duty police officer who happened to be at the store used a shopping cart to create a barrier between the woman, the employee and other shoppers. The woman fell to the ground, dropped the TV and fled without it, police said. The woman is in her mid-20s with mid- length black hair. She was wearing a white jacket and black tights. Police asked anyone with information about the incident to call police at 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786- 8477 (TIPS). MAN CHARGED IN STRING OF MALL THEFTS A MAN wanted for a string of retail thefts was arrested after police found him “in medical distress” while at a Furby Street home. Police were at the home on the 200 block on an unrelated matter shortly before 11 a.m. Monday. The man was given medical care, and officers determined he was wanted on nine outstanding warrants. A 23-year-old man has been charged with more than 30 offences and was detained in cus- tody. Police say he stole a variety of merchandise with more than $20,000 from several stores at CF Polo Park between May 15 and Oct. 5. EMERGENCY EXERCISE SLATED FOR 17 WING A BASE-WIDE emergency exercise simulating response to a natural disaster is scheduled at 17 Wing today. The exercise at the site, at Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg, will run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. “During this time, residents near the base may notice increased activity, including mil- itary and civilian emergency vehicles entering and leaving through the Wihuri Road gate, as well as military personnel with simulated injuries participating in the exercise,” a Wed- nesday news release stated. “This planned training event is part of ongoing efforts to maintain the readiness and co-ordination of base personnel and local emergency response partners.” MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Cleaners in hazardous materials suits wipe down the entrance of the Shoppers Drug Mart at 795 Keewatin St. Wednesday. ;