St. John’s City Council has reluctantly rejected a new apartment building for the centre of the city, concluding it’s too big for Little Street.
The six-storey structure was proposed for the corner of Hoyles Avenue and Little Street, just south of Empire Avenue.
The area was rezoned three years ago for a personal care home, but the revised plan called for a 96-unit apartment building.
That triggered significant residential pushback, including a 150-name petition, citing serious parking and congestion concerns.
In siding with residents and rejecting the project, council went against advice of staff which recommended approval despite being 16 parking spaces short.
Most councilors, including Carl Ridgeley, said it would be more than that, since staff assumed people in 40 micro-units won’t have a car.
“I understand the micro-units, go with micro-units because there’s no parking needed,” he said. “But, you know, 40 micro-units … are we really going to have 40 of them with nobody having a car? I find that hard to believe.”
However, Maggie Burton, one of two councilors to support the project—the other being Ophelia Ravencroft—said while she understands and sympathizes with the residents, the project made perfect sense for the area.
“The most important markers of quality of life when it comes to housing, which have been studied many times, are affordability, stability, quality, safety and the surrounding neighbourhood, and I think that this development gives the opportunity for many people within the city to have the things that they need in order to be happy and live healthy lives.”
In the end, council voted 7-2 to reject the development as is.
Councilors urged the developer to return to the drawing board with a smaller-scale project for the area.