A petition calling on St. John’s City Council to rescind the vote on the newly-approved Atlantic Place Parking Garage Hotel project is making the rounds.

Last Tuesday, St. John’s City Council voted 6-5 to allow Sonco Group to develop the AP Parking Garage in downtown St. John’s.

A four-storey hotel will be built on top of the garage, ground-level retail and office space will be added, and 21 spaces of parking relief will go ahead at 1 Clift’s Baird’s Cove.

That sparked some backlash from the public as the hotel would be as tall as Atlantic Place, blocking many public and private views of the harbour. Now, a petition with thousands of signatures is circulating, asking for another chance for consultation. Two sessions were previously held—the first in December, and the second on March 11. The petition says the design is not compatible with the heritage area and that the height and shape of the proposed hotel are out of scale with most of the adjacent buildings.

The petition also says the main stages of public consultation happened around Snowmageddon and now the COVID-19 pandemic.

They are asking the City to rescind the approval of a 12th floor and the overall structural design.