North end Moncton neighbours object to rezoning for townhouses

Residents living in Moncton's north end neighbourhood say a developer's plan to build townhouses and an apartment building in their community will increase traffic congestion and ruin a once protected wetland.

During Tuesday night's council meeting, a public hearing on the rezoning was held with six letters of opposition submitted to city staff beforehand.

More than a dozen residents also attended the meeting to either voice their concerns or show their support.

Enid Egers collected 133 names on a petition against plans to rezone. The listed concerns on the document include traffic, a decline in property values and flooding.

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"I went around the last three weeks or so collecting names from Maplehurst, Teaberry, Gooseberry, Twin Oaks and Ryan Street," she said.

The local resident started as soon as she received notification of the proposed rezoning by mail earlier this month.

Troy Boss made a short presentation to council about moving to the neighbourhood because he was told the existing wetland would stay as it is.

"It was understood there was going to be no development," he said.

"If this happens I'm pretty sure I'll be selling my house and moving somewhere I can have a little bit of privacy in my backyard, I'll most likely end up taking my tax dollars outside the city."

A 6.2 acre bog in the area was a protected wetland, but according to the city's presentation, Mountain Way Developments Inc., expressed interest in building on top of the wetland. The developer received permission to do so in 2015 and part of the proposed plans now include a naturalized stormwater retention pond.

Bill Budd, the city's director of urban planning, said the man-made system should work better than the bog to help mitigate flooding.

Residents worry properties are at risk

Andrew McKinnon, a resident living on Teaberry Avenue, said the plan is a source of frustration.

"The big question would be why would you pave over the bog in our backyard, lower our property values and then try to transport that water a few hundred metres down the road to an artificial pond?"

McKinnon told council he feels his property value is at risk of decreasing if zoning is changed to allow for rental apartments and townhouses in his neighbourhood.

"All the residents who are on Teaberry now actually purchased this property, while the developer was advertising we'd be adjacent to [single family] properties."

Meanwhile, property owner, Julien Daigle, of J.R Daigle Engineering Ltd., said he bought the property in 2009 and said "those promises were made by somebody else."

Concerns to be addressed

But McKinnon said the community was being advertised as detached single family homes as recently as six months ago.

The developer was not at the meeting, but Daigle spoke to council explaining that 442 units are being proposed, but "[the developer] could develop at least 330 lots, which would mean 660 homes and cutting [down] all the trees."

City councillors unanimously voted to table the issue until solutions to at least some of the residents' concerns can be addressed.

A middle school is also in the process of being built on an adjacent parcel of land. McKinnon said everyone he spoke to is in favour of the new North End School.

According to Budd, the province wants to start construction this spring. He said decisions will have to be made to keep the building's construction schedule, as the proposed development would bring new roads, like the completion of Maplehurst Drive, where the new school is supposed to go.

"If we can deal with this in a timely manner and get it back to council as soon a possible it shouldn't disrupt it too much," he said.