A developer's plan which recently came before the Portage la Prairie city council drew some questions from one member. Councillor Brent Froese says a local developer has taken some land which was idle for a long time and was hoping to build a number of affordable condominiums. Froese notes it's a great idea and they had a good plan with some internal green space common to all the units, but he noticed that the developers made some changes when they reapplied. He says the condo units were previously drawn very close together and have now been shifted farther apart. Froese notes he had hoped they would also adjust the parking so it wouldn't be one long, continuous parking strip all the way along the street. He adds he would have liked to have seen the streetscape a little more natural and pleasant for pedestrians and cyclists, but currently the plan has the parking lined up all the way along the block.

Froese says a city by-law states that a public access to a driveway on a residential property can't be longer than about ten meters, noting normally if a variance is granted they allow perhaps only a twenty or thirty percent increase. He notes this plan looks to go a hundred and thirty meters, adding that's no longer a variance but a completely different approach to parking. Froese says he wishes the developer success and hopes the project does well, but he's a little disappointed that they couldn't allow some green space and plant a few trees just to break up that long row of parked cars.