A recommendation to reject a new apartment building for the east end of St. John’s is not sitting well with the company that needs it.
Newco Metals and Recycling wants to build the three-storey structure next to its operations on Robin Hood Bay Road, a major industrial zone in the city.
The company says the 12, two-bedroom apartments would house only its employees, and families who, like many others affected by the housing crisis, can’t find a place to live.
Newco noted some workers with partner and child are living in single rooms to keep their jobs, while others commute from Bell Island. They also employ and house Ukrainians, and are expecting more workers to arrive soon from the Philippines.
Newco’s operations manager, Don Drew, notes the building would lessen the pressure on housing in metro and help the company grow from its current complement of 120 full-time workers.
City staff and some councillors, however, have said the site, near the dump and various scrap yards, is not appropriate for residential development, and is zoned as such.
Drew says that flies in the face of what already exists in the area.
“If you had a good arm you could throw a rock from where this building would go, to where these million-dollar homes are to. It’s not like we’re building on the dump — we’re not that close,” he said.
“There’s residential properties 200 feet from this, there’s a high-end condominium about 350 feet from it, just across Logy Bay Road. I can see the city’s point, but there seems to be concerns there for certain developments and not others.”
While city staff have recommended rejecting the project, councillors will have the final say when they cast their votes at an upcoming public meeting.