Southwestern Winnipeg homeowner burning mad about muddy berm

Glen Hart's dream-home bungalow in southwestern Winnipeg has 2,544 square feet of living space, a fireplace, an attached garage and a unique view out his front window — a 10-metre-tall wall of earth.

A bitter dispute between Hart and the homeowner to the north has led to the muddy mother of all fences rising between two neighbours in the "wild west" of Winnipeg's Wilkes South neighbourhood, where residential homes assessed at more than $1 million coexist with large parcels of agricultural land, smaller acreages with horse stables and a handful of small industrial operations.

Hart's neighbour hired earth-moving equipment to build a berm that extends along the south side of her property, where it slopes steeply toward a drainage trench.

Although the unusual landscaping is perfectly legal, thanks to a permit issued in 2022, Hart is upset the City of Winnipeg has allowed the work to proceed. He says the ditch poses a drowning danger to his four-year-old daughter, and the wall of mud on the other side of that trench makes him embarrassed to invite company over. 

"Anybody that comes here wants to know when the ski hill's opening up," Hart said last week, standing on his driveway, a spacious expanse of gravel.

"It's Brady landfill 2.0. It's a commercial dump site. They've allowed thousands and thousands of truckloads of fill in here."

Tensions between Hart and his neighbour began when he purchased his property, a parcel of land that has no direct connection to any formal road.

In order to get to his home, he has to drive along a private right-of-way once used by agricultural producers in Wilkes South. That private road first crosses land owned by Jags Development and then continues along the edge of Hart's neighbour's property.

"The road is a private access road. We all have the right to use it," said Andrew Fast, a neighbour to the east of both Hart and the woman living to the north.

"What had happened is when Glen started to build his house, she got kind of annoyed that he was using the access road to get to his property."

The woman's lawyer, Bruce King, said she was more than annoyed, after spending more than two decades on her plot of land, tending to several horses on her property with little in the way of interruption.

"It is completely fair to say that the development by Mr. Hart of his property imposed significant inconvenience, hardship and trouble on my client," said King, describing the construction of the berm at the edge of her property "as a defensive move" against an unruly neighbour.

"The landscaping is extensive, well-planned and frankly, rather ambitious," King said. "It does involve the erection of berms with the purpose of the berms being to shield her animals from interference from activities on adjoining properties — not just Mr. Hart's, but properties to the west."

King said Hart used to engage in stock-car racing on his property before he built his home, operates his roofing business from his property and has prevented workers from accessing his neighbour's property.