Large home proposed for Mill Creek ravine goes to Edmonton appeal board

A proposal to build a large house in the Mill Creek Ravine will be scrutinized Thursday when opponents express their dismay at a subdivision and developmentappeal board hearing.

"We were shocked that this large house was going to [be] built right beside the bike trail and the creek,"PeigiRockwell, civics director with the StrathconaCommunity League, toldCBCNews.

Robert Weinrich says it was never his intention to stop people from enjoying the much-loved creek and trail system.

"My family photos areme and the kids in the creekthat's my family, that's what we do," Weinrich said.

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"What a great place for kids to grow up in the park, playing in the mud, in the creek," he said.

In December, the city approved Weinrich's application to build a 4,300-square-foot homeat 921397thSt.

The footprint of the two-and-a-half-storeyhouse will be about 1,200 squarefeet,Weinrichsaid.

Between the trail and the creek, the house will be obvious to thousands who bike, jog or walk the trails, Rockwellargued.

"It's going to loom above us all and above the creek."

City missed chance to buy

Coun. Ben Henderson said he wishes the city bought the property after an older home on the lot burneddown in 2007.

"This was a piece of land I wish the city had been able to buy and get back into park land."

Henderson said at the time, the city tried but was not successful in expropriating the land. The lot owner, he said, was asking far above the assessed value for the property.

He said he understands why people are upset about another house going up on thelot and about how the home might "clash" with the multi-use trail system.

"I wish we had maybe looked at it a little bit more," he said. "But we didn't."

'Not a big monstrous house'

Weinrich said he and his family have enjoyed the trail system along the North Saskatchewan River for several years.

"The birds, the squirrels teaching my kids about nature and about things that matter, not just going to work and making a dollar," he said.

"It is a big house," he admitted. "It's just not a big monstrous house [like] what you'd find out in Windermere, in most of the bigger neighbourhoods when people build a new home."

Weinrich, who now lives in MacKinnon Ravine, said he's building the home from concrete and aiming for an environmentally responsible, energy efficient home.

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He said the home won't affect trail users.

"How long does it take you to walk past a house?"

The community league has several speakers lined up to make their case Thursday before theappeal board.

"There's a lot of interest in this.There's a lot of concern for the river valley," Rockwell said.

The league said the city didn't consult the community sufficiently and that building the house is not in the public interest. Transportation and safety issues will also be raised.

The next steps are up to the appeal board. Henderson said the city has no jurisdiction over what the board decides.