Plans for Naawi-Oodena, major redevelopment of former Kapyong barracks, winding through Winnipeg city hall

The redevelopment of the former Kapyongbarracks site in Winnipeg's Tuxedo neighbourhood is inching closer, as some of the plansare starting to wind their way through city hall.

On Nov. 17, city council's Assiniboia community committee will consider a planning framework for the federally owned component of the Naawi-Oodena development alongside Kenaston Boulevard.

The Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation, owns about a third of the 65-hectare site, which runs from land north of Grant Avenue to south of Taylor Avenue.

Canada Landsrequires the City of Winnipeg to approve plans for its portion of the development, which could eventually encompass approximately 3,000 new residential units and about 1.2 million square feet of commercial space.

Seven Treaty 1 First Nations Brokenhead, Long Plain, Peguis, Roseau River, Sagkeeng,Sandy Bay and Swan Lake own the remaining two-thirds of the land. The Treaty 1 nations have the jurisdiction to approve their own plans, which conform to the city's design principles.

A single consulting firm, Winnipeg's Scatliff + Miller + Murray, was contracted to design both the federal and First Nations components of Naawi-Oodena.

The overall plan is intended to function as one seamless redevelopment,said Dave Thomas, Treaty 1's planning and design manager.

"We don't really see itas a separate sites," Thomas said in an interview from Ottawa on Friday.

James Platt, senior planner for the City of Winnipeg, concurred.

"The land uses on one sideare completely compatible with the land uses on the other, and they've even started to talk about some design standards that would be inherent throughout," Platt said Friday in an interview.

The overall plans have not changed much since Treaty 1 published a Naawi-Oodena master plan in 2021, he said.

Commercial development is mostly slated for the land to the immediate west of Kenaston Boulevard. The land further to the west is slated to house medium-density residential development, with buildings no taller than six or eight storeys.

The land on the westernmost portion of Naawi-Oodena, abutting the South Tuxedo neighbourhood, is slated for lower-density housing, with buildings no taller than 3.5 storeys.

Treaty 1 has a groundbreaking planned for the site on Monday. Construction fencing should go up in a matter of weeks, Thomas said.

The complete buildout of Naawi-Oodenais slated to take place in phases, over the next 10 to 15 years. Once complete, it is expected tobecome the largest First Nation-led urban economic development zone in Canada.

"I'm sure there's many people who look at this barren piece of land and say, 'Itsure would be nice to get some houses on there,'" Platt said.

The site has been vacant since 2004, when the formerbarracks closed. The federalgovernment initially triedto sell the landin 2008, butTreaty 1 nations challenged the sale, arguing they had theright to acquire the land under outstanding treaty land entitlement claims.

In 2015, a judge ruled that thegovernment failed to adequately consultwith the First Nations over the sale and the land transfer was ruled illegitimate. The federal government eventually stopped fighting that decisionandtheland transfer to Treaty 1 First Nations was made officialin 2019.

The City of Winnipeg and the Treaty 1 nations are still in talks about the disposition of a strip of land the city wants to acquire in order to widen Kenaston Boulevard, city spokesperson Kalen Qually said.