Special council meeting to be held on proposed Douglas Park building

Regina City Council is scheduled to hold a special meeting on a controversial potential development.

On Tuesday, council is set to discuss a zoning amendment bylaw and discretionary use application for a five-storey daycare and residential building that would be built in the Douglas Park neighbourhood, at 535 E Douglas Avenue.

The property is owned by Regina Christian School Association and the applicant seeking to develop it is The Winchester Group.

The building would face 20th Avenue next to the francophone private school École Du Parc, which itself is adjacent to Douglas Park School.

The proposed property would be 18 metres tall, featuring 90 residential units, a common space and 123 parking stalls. The daycare would be able to accommodate roughly 52 kids.

But at a Regina Planning Commission meeting in May, many residents voiced staunch opposition to the development.

Many cited safety concerns that could stem from increased traffic flow.

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“With all the events and general organic traffic growth, I feel as though we are at a tipping point for motorist and pedestrian safety,” said local resident A.J. Tidball.

He added that adding a drop-off to what he described as an already congested school zone runs counter to the city’s goals with its Vision Zero safety framework.

Val Gelsinger also expressed concerns about the possibility of further traffic congestion in the area.

“New residents are not the issue,” she said. “We will gladly welcome new residents, but we feel that 90-plus new residents is just too many in such a small space in our small neighbourhood.”

According to the city’s agenda report, the property isn’t in a place that is specifically being targeted for the city’s housing accelerator fund initiative, which seeks to change zoning bylaws in order to receive federal funding. But the property has nonetheless been impacted by things like increases to discretionary use height thresholds, changes to the Wascana Centre Height Overlay Zone and the removal of parking requirements.