St. John’s council has cleared the way for a new 10-storey apartment building on the former YMCA and Max Athletics site.

They signed off on changes yesterday for what will be one of the tallest residential structures in the city, alongside Kenna’s Hill.

A two-storey parking garage was part of the original plans by developer KMK Capital in 2023, but that was removed from the final draft.

Instead, they sought parking relief for six of the 117 spaces required, which council took in stride and approved.

But KMK also wanted an exemption for so-called stepbacks, which narrow the upper storeys to reduce impact on neighbours.

A commissioner cited the city’s new Envision regulations in recommending against the exemption.

But Councillor Maggie Burton noted that plan was authored before the housing crisis, and in this case would be unfair for the developer.

“I think that this site is not sensitive enough to require the stepback requirement, which would likely kill the project due to the amount of money it would take to fit out the building in the strange shape … ,” she said. “I believe the developer that this is an undue burden and I believe the research and jurisdictional scans that they’ve done to show us that other municipalities don’t work this way.”

Not all councilors were okay with the exemption, with Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O’Leary and Councilor Tom Davis opposed.

The existing building at 34 New Cove Road will be demolished before the new one goes up, but no timeline has been provided.