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Tuesday's Daily Gleaner

Council narrowly passes zoning change for housing project

By SHAWN BERRY
berry.shawn@dailygleaner.com
Published Tuesday November 27th, 2007
Appeared on page A1
It was a tight vote Monday night as Fredericton city councillors approved rezoning of 247 Dundonald St. to six-unit residential for a non-profit housing project.

The motion, which encountered opposition from a group of residents on the block, passed five-to-four with one abstention.

Two councillors who were absent for the first and second readings Nov. 13 couldn't participate in the final decision.

Councillors were polarized. One camp was determined to see council take the steps needed to support affordable housing, while the other called on colleagues to support the existing secondary plan for the area.

Several neighbourhood residents voiced their frustration with the outcome.

"We're decidedly disappointed," said resident Terry Fitzgerald late Monday night.

"I think they manipulated the municipal and the secondary plan to their advantage," she said of council.

Neighbours, she said, will seek recourse in the courts.

"We're not done yet. We're going to hold them to a two-unit. That's our current zoning."

City staff had recommended the zoning change requested by Fredericton Non-Profit Housing Corp., saying it fit into the area's secondary plan.

The building was originally introduced to council as a six-unit with four designated for single units and two to be used as two-person units.

Floor plans provided to councillors showed six single-person units.

Eldon Toner, properties manager for Fredericton Non-Profit Housing Corp., said the group offered that as a compromise.

He said they'll consider which floor plan to use.

"We're going to have to think about it now," he said, adding they could go either way.

Councillors Walter Brown, Scott McConaghy, Dan Keenan, Tony Whalen and Mike O'Brien supported the zoning amendment.

Councillors Stephen Kelly and Cathy MacLaggan -- who had voiced the most opposition to the proposal -- were joined by councillors Marilyn Kerton and Tommy Jellinek in voting against it.

Councillors Bruce Grandy and Nora Davidson couldn't vote on the final reading because they hadn't been part of the first set of proceedings.

Coun. David Kelly, who serves as council's appointment to the non-profit corporation's board, abstained from the vote.

Most councillors spoke on the motion before the vote was taken.

"I just regret that it didn't come in their favour," said Stephen Kelly, who represents the ward. "It was a very difficult situation because I believe so sincerely in housing alternatives whether they be affordable or non-profit, especially in a situation where Fredericton Non-Profit is such a great developer.

"But at the same time, I have greater issues facing me as the councillor for Ward 10, and that is the secondary plan and a degradation of that plan by decisions of council that basically don't support the intent of that plan.''

McConaghy said the issue was a test of council's resolve to provide non-profit housing.

"I actually believe this one has a lot to do with the applicant just because it is non-profit housing."

"If you're going to have affordable housing, you can't have it in some kind of mythical place that's on the edge of the city away from bus service ... This is close to the city, close to bus routes, close to shopping. This is a place where people who don't have their own transportation can take full part in our city," McConaghy said.

Jellinek proposed an amendment that would have limited the developer to six single-person units. That amendment required the unanimous consent of voting councillors but was opposed by Kelly and MacLaggan.

"That is unfortunate," Jellinek said after the amendment failed.

"If I thought for one minute that this was not legal, we would not end up doing it," said Brown.

"I know in one year ... people are going to say I wonder what all the fuss was about."

He suggested that if the rezoning failed, residents might not get as good an organization as Fredericton Non-Profit next door.

MacLaggan said she believes every councillor is aware of the need for affordable housing.

But she said it had nothing to do with who will live there.

"This is a zoning issue, it has nothing to do with who is actually asking for the rezoning."

Keenan said he couldn't understand why colleagues had voted against the amendment that would've seen the number of residents in the building reduced to six.

O'Brien, who chairs the city's ad-hoc committee on affordable housing, said that despite representations that the secondary plan for the area limits zoning, the city's municipal plan challenges councillors to act decisively to develop affordable housing.

"The wording is 'where appropriate.' I would argue that this location is appropriate. It's near amenities, it's near bus routes."

Whalen and Kerton made no comments before voting.