A St. John’s developer and the capital city are once again at odds.

Danny Williams of DewCor blames the city’s “obstructionist approach” for rejecting an application for a new apartment complex in the Galway development.

Williams says the proposed six-story apartment building is slated for a piece of land set aside in Galway Living for that express purpose, yet the city rejected the developer’s application in short order.

Williams has been told that the road through Southlands has not been completed, and until that road through Southlands is authorized, they cannot get any development permits. That, says Williams, is something he simply can’t understand.

“The Southlands Road is through Southlands” says Williams, “it’s completely out of my control. I have no jurisdiction over it, I have no right to apply for an approval, and if I did, I wouldn’t even be considered, so it’s between council and the neighbouring developer to figure out what has to be done there in order to get that process started.” In the meantime, Williams says Galway has already built its part of the road right to the boundary of Southlands. He says the city is holding him to ransom as a result.

Mayor Danny Breen says the application wasn’t accepted, nor was it rejected. He says in 2016 it was determined that a secondary access to the residential part of Galway was required once the development got to a certain level. He says that’s a safety requirement and the developer was informed in 2023 that no new applications would be accepted until the connection from Southlands Boulevard was built.

Breen says since then, they went back, and indicated that it would take some time for the road to be built, and requested a construction schedule in order to accept applications. “We haven’t received the construction schedule so we can’t receive any new applications for development in the residential area.”