A sidewalk proposed for an old Winnipeg neighbourhood is causing concrete divisions between residents.

Some say it will make the area safer, while others argue it will destroy the park-like atmosphere of the area.

"The nature of this neighbourhood — it was designed not to have a sidewalk," said Craig Berry, who chose to move onto Patricia Avenue, in the Fort Richmond neighbourhood, 13 years ago.

While he acknowledged the property where the sidewalk will go is city-owned, many homeowners over years have landscaped their yards to include the area that will now be ripped up.

"There are actually award-winning gardens on our street," Berry said.

Some Patricia Avenue residents have developed their yards to include the city property beside the street, but their landscaping will have to make way for a sidewalk. (Google Street View)

In addition to the esthetics of the neighbourhood being affected, so will residents' privacy, he said.

"You're going to have people walking 15 feet out your front window, which you never had for 30, 40, 50 years," he said. "So your privacy's decreased."

Chase Curtis, who has signed a petition against the sidewalk, is one of the residents who has created what he calls an "architectured garden" in his front yard.

It includes cedars, dogwoods, lilac bushes and rocks from throughout Manitoba. There are 32 lilacs that will need to be uprooted.

"I'm not sure where I'm going to transplant these. They were put here specifically because this is where they get the best sun," he said.

The community's been untouched by all this cement for its existence, and that's going to be different now. - Chase Curtis

Often, people walking the neighbourhood with strollers and dogs stop by and check out the yards, he said. t's a tranquil scene that adds to the community feel, when people gather and chat in the street, Curtis said.

Decades of design have gone into making a cottage-like community, he added.

"I don't know why it's an issue now," Curtis said.

"It's the entire notion that you can just pave something away when there's already a really nice community here. The community's been untouched by all this cement for its existence, and that's going to be different now. There's going to be divisions."

Safety drives need for sidewalk

However, Sebastian Naslund, who also lives on Patricia Avenue, fully supports the sidewalk.

"I think it should be mandatory," he said.

The neighbourhood has a lot of young families with children who are forced to walk on the road, he said. In summer, cars go zipping through, while in winter the road is icy, Naslund said.

Coun. Janice Lukes, who represents the area, said the sidewalk is the result of residents asking the city to improve safety for active transportation in the area.

Countless studies have shown improved active transportation in a community heightens property values. - Coun . Janice Lukes

Fort Richmond was developed in the 1960s and '70s and designed around the car, not people walking, she said.

But with more people walking in the area and a busy kindergarten to Grade 6 school on the street, more emphasis is being put on safety, she said, noting Patricia is a cut-through street to Richmond Kings Community Centre, the University of Manitoba and Investors Group Field.

In 2009, the Public Health Agency of Canada, along with the Green Action Centre, City of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Province of Manitoba, Pembina Trails School Division, U of M, CAA, and Manitoba Public Insurance, partnered in a study of the community's mobility in walking and biking.

One school had speed bumps put in to calm traffic, another had a crosswalk added. The sidewalk was identified as a need for Patricia.

The city is trying to protect people's yards by putting the sidewalk as close to the curb as possible and leaving all large trees, Lukes said, adding that "countless studies have shown improved active transportation in a community heightens property values."

Lukes also disputes claims by some people that the city has not properly consulted with residents about the project.

The city has hosted multiple meetings with residents and Lukes has personally hand-delivered pamphlets four times, she said. The last pamphlet invited people to speak to the project manager and engineer to work out the logistics.

Unfortunately, there were meetings where just three people show up.

"How do you get them to come out?" Lukes said. "I'll go have coffee at their house. I've left notes in the doors."