East St. Paul residents raise concerns over proposed 760-lot development on former golf course

A group of East St. Paul residents say a large-scale residential development is too much too soon. CTV’s Joseph Bernacki reports.

A proposal to carve 760 new residential lots out of a former golf course in East St. Paul is heading to a public hearing next week — and some residents aren’t on board.

“We need to do a complete community, but not to this size,” said area resident Craig Hodkinson on Thursday.

The proposed development is located at the site of the former Meadows Golf Course, next to Highway 59. The course closed in April 2019, and the 183-acre property has sat empty ever since. That could soon change.

“We’ve been involved through different clients since 2017,” said Brody Osadick, director of planning with MRA Planning + Development.

Peguis First Nation sold the majority of the land. Hodkinson said MRA Planning + Development’s past attempts at building high-density housing simply haven’t worked out.

“It was far too dense, and there were back lanes and snow removal issues and we didn’t have sewer and water appropriate for it, and now they’re back and added 1,000 units, and now we’re up to 2,400 units,” Hodkinson said.

A public hearing on July 21 could see this land rezoned to rural residential and subdivided into 760 development lots. Hodkinson is concerned over the impact of this development, which could increase the rural municipality’s population by 50 per cent.

He said residents may be stuck with a huge bill as more demand is put on their aging sewer treatment plant.

“We have over a $100 million project to my understanding that’s being thought of or laid out, but there’s no idea where all this stuff is going to come from or where it’s going to happen financially,” Hodkinson said.

In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for the Rural Municipality of East St. Paul said there’s been a building moratorium since 2020 due to capacity limits at its wastewater treatment plant.

The plant was built in 1979 and needs significant upgrades and repairs. They said they are considering the proposal but could not offer further comment.

The developer said revenue generated by the project could help fund repairs.

“That would generate a significant amount of money upwards of $40 million based on today’s rates that would go towards those upgrades,” Osadick said.

He added that the expansion would happen gradually, with The Meadows potentially taking up to two decades to develop.

Area resident Brian Wachko said he wishes the community had been given more time for public consultation, noting that much of the information about the project has only been made available within the last month.

“Had the open house occurred prior to an actual formal application, maybe council would have had the opportunity to give us more insight as far as the stuff behind the scenes that can support this,” Wachko said.

“We should be able to find some common ground in the community.”

He is concerned over the mixed residential application that could allow for the construction of four- to six-storey apartment buildings if approved by council. Currently, the municipality has only one three-storey apartment building.

“If they’ve had an opportunity to drive around the community, do they feel they’ve captured the essence of East St. Paul in their application,” Wachko said.