Bid to reopen McIvor makes debut

Rookie councillor’s motion now heads to next committee

North Kildonan’s rookie councillor taking his first steps toward making good on one of his most controversial campaign promise, which threatens to turn neighbour versus neighbour.

At the Nov. 21 East Kildonan-Transcona Community Committee meeting, Coun. Jeff Browaty put forward a motion calling for the City’s administration to start the process to re-open McIvor Avenue at De Vries Avenue, just west of Lagimodiere Boulevard.

“It should be no surprise to anybody that I want to get the street reopened,” Browaty said in an interview with The Herald.

He said he’s even willing to dip into his own office budget if necessary to pay for the filling of a hole made at the end of McIvor where a barricade has been blocking traffic for the past three years.

This new motion culminates what has been a long five years for residents on all sides of the debate.

The junction was closed in 2001, but reopened in 2002 after a 700-signature petition was delivered to city council.

In the spring of 2003, the barricades once again went up, frustrating many of the local residents who saw an increase in vehicular traffic and noise down parallel streets, such as Sun Valley Drive, Ragsdill Road, and Bonner and Knowles avenues.

Mark Lubosch, the former councillor of North Kildonan, was in favour of the barricade, saying that McIvor was not built to be a collector street and therefore, because it is a straight connection from Henderson Highway to Lagimodiere Boulevard, would be over-burdened with traffic.

In fact, the stretch of McIvor from Gateway Road to De Vries resembles a rural road, in that it has ditches, no sidewalks and is not paved like other city streets.

But Browaty said this has been the choice of residents.

“People of the street have had the option to have the street paved,” he said. “It’s been offered before, it’s my understanding it’s been offered and they haven’t done it.”

As for what will likely be a surge in traffic on that street, Browaty said residents “knew what they were getting themselves into from the start…I mean, traffic on all of the streets in North Kildonan is too high.”

Residents Sandra Klinck and Terry Kozak said they look forward to seeing the street reopened.

“I’m pleased,” said Kozak, a member of Citizens for Democratic Transportation Solutions, which opposed the closing of McIvor, and a resident of Algonquin Estates on Ragsdill.

“I had full confidence in Jeff in following through with this promise.”

“It’s nice to know a councillor is in right now who actually wants to do what people want,” added Klinck, who lives on Bonner. “He’s listening to the people in this area.”

At the meeting, Coun. Lillian Thomas (Elmwood-East Kildonan) did mention that it was her understanding the reason why McIvor was closed was because it was a requirement in a land development agreement.

However, Browaty said he did ask the City’s legal department to look into the matter.

“I haven’t had anybody within the City’s administration who has told me that that is an issue,” added Browaty. “Regardless of what’s said, it was done prematurely.”

Kozak said his group also hired a lawyer to look at reopening McIvor.

“In my review of the plan, of the development agreement, our group had a lawyer look at the bylaw and his stance was that it could be reopened if a new bylaw was proposed by a councillor and had support,” said Kozak.

Browaty said the McIvor barricade has become a safety issue, pointing to a City report that stated the intersection at Springfield Road and Lagimodiere is the worst in terms of injuries sustained during vehicle crashes.

Thomas and Coun. Russ Wyatt (Transcona) – the community committee’s other two councillors – also voted in favour of Browaty’s motion.

It now heads to the City’s property and development January committee meeting.