Steinbach city council chambers were overflowing Tuesday night as a large number of people showed up to oppose a rezoning request along Maplewood Street. Developer Elmer Toews has purchased seven homes along the east side of Maplewood Street from Stonebridge Crossing north and wants to replace them with a 44-unit townhouse project. But many neighbours objected, stating concerns about traffic, drainage, the design of the project and its impact on property values.

Councillor Michael Zwaagstra moved to deny the rezoning after hearing from the many neighbours who were opposed to the plan.

"We heard from a significant number of neighbours, many were here in person, others submitted objections in writing. They have concerns about the increased density, the impact on traffic and they also had concerns that the plan being proposed wasn't a very good one. And, frankly, I was not satisfied with the presentation by the developer in regards to the plan. I didn't feel that it adequately addressed those concerns. I think it's important to have neighbourhood buy-in when you're going to have a significant change to a neighbourhood. I think that in the future, there needs to be a better plan presented that better takes the concerns of neighbours into account."

Councillor John Fehr seconded the motion.

"There were a significant number of people whom we serve that were represented here tonight and I felt that, in order to be fair, that we needed to deny the request as it was presented. Having said that, I hope and trust that the developer is going to come up with a plan that the neighbourhood is going to embrace and that we can end up doing something very good with that property."

Councillors all agree that there is no doubt that block of Maplewood needs some renewal and hope the developer comes up with a better plan.

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Large Townhouse Complex Planned Along Maplewood Street