As a carsharing company, everyone knows us for, well, our carsharing service, but few people realize that we also work with the city’s planning department and developers to facilitate in-fill development! That’s right, your locally owned carsharing co-op is also helping to build a denser, more sustainable city!
Peg City’s Managing Director Philip Mikulec discusses how carsharing supports the development of in-fill housing in Winnipeg’s urban core!
Built on Partnership
Thanks to the support of city councillors and planning the department, Winnipeg is one of only two cities in Canada that allows developers to reduce their parking requirement if they provide carsharing services at their development. Thanks to the collaboration with our planning department, we are helping developers build much-needed in-fill with a reduced parking footprint. Parking reductions are possible because the city and our planning department recognize one of the key benefits of carsharing: one carsharing vehicle removes as many as 15 privately owned cars off city streets.
Parking requirements:
Developers are required to build a minimum amount of parking stalls per unit built. By reducing parking requirements, Peg City can support development projects which bolster urban density, and also help conserve land that would be dedicated to private automobiles.
Making Dream-Projects Possible
The environmental benefits are clear, fewer cars on the road mean fewer carbon emissions, while less land dedicated to private automobiles means more space for housing. Our carsharing agreements with developers have been essential to the feasibility of several in-fill projects. In fact, our first ever in-fill agreement was at 511 River, the old Christian Science Church. Due to its preservation status, the building could not be torn down, yet there was insufficient parking to make the project feasible. The addition of two Co-op cars (a big deal when we only had five at the time!) allowed the planning department to back the parking reductions and making the project possible!
Co-operation with Co-ops
Since then, we’ve been part of almost a dozen projects in the inner-core of Winnipeg, helping shape our city and provide new diverse housing options! One of our favourite examples is the Old Grace Housing Co-op in the heart of Wolseley. We’re particularly proud of our collaboration with other co-ops. The Old Grace project provides much needed affordable and age-friendly housing. It’s also our most ambitious project with a total of two cars and one van on site.
New Developments
We have many more great projects in the pipeline, including our first development in the Exchange District and our third project in Osborne Village. We also have many more potential projects pending approval.
Over the years, we’ve come to develop great relationships with the planning department and developers to help bring more diverse, affordable, and lower impact in-fill development in Winnipeg. We can’t wait to be part of more projects in the years to come.
