Some well-known Winnipeggers are among those who have come out swinging against a plan to split up a lot in Old Tuxedo.

The owner of a corner lot, located along Handsart Boulevard and Nanton Boulevard, wants to subdivide in order to build a second home on the site.

In April the City of Winnipeg’s board of adjustment gave its go-ahead to the plan. A report from the urban planning department said the resulting lots would be similar in size to many of the existing properties on that block of Handsart.

But a group of residents, including David and Ruth Asper, True North Sports + Entertainment president Jim Ludlow and lawyer Ken Zaifman, is appealing the decision.

A letter signed by the Aspers and Ludlow said the plan should not have been approved, arguing that under Plan Winnipeg changes to a neighbourhood must be collaborative, that the low-density planning of corner lots along Nanton Boulevard amounts to an amenity for the area that would be affected, and that the variance required for the plan is “not compatible with the neighbourhood” or its character.

“Planners concluded that what has become the side yard of a double lot, exclusively due to the way in which the home was constructed, was effectively a vacant lot. It is not,” said the letter. “It is part of a double lot and that vacant space is in fact what’s consistent with the neighbourhood.”

The letter also said a petition against the plan “from the neighbourhood” will be presented at an appeal hearing on Friday, scheduled to get underway at 9 a.m.