Developer planned for thousands of housing units on Parker Land

The expropriation hearing for a section of the Parker Lands was toldthat developer Andrew Marquess had planned for 50 to55 apartmentunits per acre on the 59-acre property.

The City of Winnipegwantsto expropriate approximately 20of 59 acres it hadswapped to Marquess and his company, Gem Equities, in 2009. The cityneeds the land for a massive retention pond as part of the Cockburn-Calrossiesewer project.

• Winnipeg land swap approved (2009)
• City of Winnipeg wants back land it had swapped away

On Thursday,the expropriation hearing heard of a memo prepared by aconsultant on the project,suggesting that Marquess had big plans for theproperty.

If the city is successful in expropriating the 20 acres it needs, that may cut 1,000 to1,100 apartment units from the development Marquess wants to build on the property.

The land does, however,haveserious drainage issues that would have to be corrected before anything was built.

City did land swap but didn't register Hydro on title

The lawyer for Marquess andGem Equitiesgrilledthe lead consulting engineer for the Cockburn-Calrossie combined seweroutflow project.Some of what wasdisclosed would suggestsloppy legal work on the part of the city.

Mark Newman combed through dozens of pages of the project's documentsduring the expropriation hearing on Thursday.

Newman revealed at thehearing that the city sold Gemthe land without registering an easement for Hydro lines and equipmenton the property.

Cockburn-Calrossieprojectengineer Ray Offman said atthe hearing that he was told ManitobaHydro would claim "prescriptive rights" for not being recognized inthe title transfer.

Offman also said he had heard Hydro "had expressed unhappiness" thatthe city hadn't registered the easement.

City lawyer Denise Pambrunconfirmed the property has been transferredwithout an easement for Hydro.

Hydro has power lines and large transmission towers on the property that was swapped to Gem.

The hearing also heard there were several options for the Cockburn-Calrossie sewage project.Onewas to build two separate retention ponds one on land on Taylor Avenue and a second on the Parker Lands.

A memo in October2012 prepared by a consultant suggests the city wanted a review of locating the pond exclusively on theParker Lands and asked it remain a confidential document.

There are two days left scheduled for the expropriation hearings.