Developer planning second multi-unit East Saint John project
A new residential project in East Saint John could add 180 new housing units near the developer's existing multi-unit development off Heather Way.
Council approved first and second reading last week after a public hearing on a rezoning application from Bill Dunnett, seeking to rezone and subdivide 50 Heather Way in order to build a five-apartment, 12-townhouse development.
City planner Mark Reade said that the proposal features a total of 180 new dwelling units, with five units per townhouse and 24 units per apartment, when fully built out, and would require a rezoning from two-unit residential to mid-unit residential as well as a new public street.
Reade said the townhouses would be built on the western portion of the site near Heather Way, with the multi-unit buildings on the eastern and southern parts of the site, with "potential" for some single-unit dwellings on Wyatt Drive. The site is undeveloped, with some clearing at the site for a previous planned subdivision that fell through, Reade said.
A traffic study resulted in no development-related impacts, according to Reade. He said the nearby area has a mix of housing, from single-family homes to townhouses and apartments, including those built by Dunnett across Heather Way on Dunnett Drive.
Dunnett spoke at the public hearing, telling council that they are building 11 apartment buildings on Dunnett Drive at a rate of about one per year, with five buildings holding about 96 residents done and six to go. He said for this project, they'd likely start on the townhouses first at about 10 units per year, leaving the apartment buildings for five or six years.
"We would work our way up the hill to get to the apartment buildings," Dunnett said. "If the market stays as hot as it is, maybe we'll do them quicker ... things have been very good, we're generally full before we finish the building, so that shows there is a need and demand right now."
Dunnett said they "tend to build quite nice apartments, we don't go over the top so we can keep the price point reasonable, and that seems to be successful for us."
Coun. Barry Ogden congratulated Dunnett on his work in the area, but warned him that "treeless communities aren't as valuable" and encouraged him to plant a mix of hardwood and softwood trees on the site. Dunnett said he's a landscaper by trade, and has "gone a little further than most," having planted around 50 hardwood trees on Dunnett Drive, and a berm with evergreens.
"It's very important to me that the site looks good, I was a landscaper for 45 years," Dunnett said.
Nobody spoke at the public hearing last Monday. Dunnett sent letters to area residents with his contact information and had some discussions, according to a report from planning advisory chair Brad Mitchell. At the committee's May 22 meeting, Mitchell said that there were concerns from nearby residents on Wyatt Crescent and Grandview Avenue, with one family concerned about drainage issues affecting their basement.
When asked about drainage by Coun. Paula Radwan, Dunnett said the city officials "agreed that we didn't have anything to do with it" and that the water would have had to run uphill to the affected property. The project consultant, Bryce Tayes of Don-More Surveys and Engineering, said they believe the development will "actually improve this" as it will control stormwater and direct it into the municipal system.
Coun. Gary Sullivan, serving as acting mayor, told reporters that Heather Way "is a great example of a local developer understanding that you communicate and have conversations with the neighbourhood." He said that Dunnett "hasn't been afraid" to engage residents in the neighbourhood, and said that communication is "key to successful projects."
"I think it's going to be a successful development, and needed housing," Sullivan said.
Recommended conditions for approval include the establishment of a subdivision agreement, an agreement to plant one tree or shrub for every 45 square metres of front yard and that the developer pay for needed municipal infrastructure improvements required by the development. The 2008-era requirements on blasting would also be rescinded, as the province regulates blasting, according to the report.
The application would next go to third reading at a future council meeting.
Andrew Bates, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Telegraph-Journal
