Developer hopes to get St. Clements project off ground soon

RECORD PHOTO BY AUSTIN GRABISH

Some Colville Road residents have put large signs on their front lawns protesting a proposed development that could be coming to an 11-acre parcel of land along the road.

 By Austin Grabish, the Selkirk Record

The man behind a proposed controversial apartment and housing development in East Selkirk is hopeful his project will be complete by the end of the year.

Dale Place, the chief executive officer of Kinetic Ventures, said his proposed development is in the final steps and a minor detail is all that needs to be approved by St. Clements council.

Place said all that is left for council to decide is where two apartment buildings will be placed on a lot.

Right now the apartments are slated to be built on the front of a property located on Colville Road, but concerns from area residents may force Place to move the apartments to the back of his property.

Place said if council wants the apartments moved to the back of the property he will comply without hesitation.

“They’re only on the highway because the (provincial) government wants them on the highway,” Place said in an interview last week.

A zoning bylaw, which affects Place’s development, still needs to come before council.

The bylaw received second reading last year but didn’t pass because there were objections.

Place said council was supposed to discuss the development this week, but St. Clements Mayor Debbie Fiebelkorn denied that claim in a phone interview Sunday.

She said the development was talked about at a previous council meeting, but Place has yet to come forward with an actual proposal for the development.

Place is proposing to build two apartment buildings and 26 houses, he said.

His proposed development was met with strong opposition last year from residents who fear their community will become crowded.

Some of those residents wrote their concerns on giant signs, which they placed in front of their homes.

The signs are still up today.

East Selkirk resident Todd Cook said he has no problem with houses being built on lots as long as there is adequate space, but he said he is opposed to any kind of apartment development. 

He said increased traffic is of special concern to him.

“It’s already very busy,” Cook said in a phone interview earlier this month.

Resident Brock Marr who lives across the street from the site of the proposed development echoed Cook’s concern.

Marr said drivers are constantly speeding in the area and more traffic would only worsen the problem.

“Colville Road right now on a good day is a death trap,” Marr said in a phone interview.

“People fly down here.”

Marr is also concerned his property value could go down if apartments are built in front of his house.

He said he worries he wouldn’t be able to sell his house if the proposed apartments were built.

“We don’t want that in any capacity,” Marr said.

Marr also expressed concern that lots, which are currently a half-acre in size, could be taken down to a quarter in size.

But Place said those fears aren’t grounded.

He said he has no plans to change the size of the half-acre lots and that’s simply a rumour that’s been looming in the area for some time now.    

“They just got upset about something that isn’t happening,” Place said.

Place, who lives in East Selkirk, said his apartments are not high-rise buildings as has been rumoured and they will not change the look of the area.

“They’re tiny, they look like houses, they’re low, only two storeys,” Place said.

“It ties into a rural community.”

It wasn’t entirely clear at press time Tuesday when the zoning bylaw, which affects Place’s development, will be brought to council.

-- First published in the Selkirk Record print edition February 26, 2015 p.6