Proposed Saint John seniors' home raises concerns, developer promises to listen

The City of Saint John is wrestling with competing desires: economic development versus some residents' desire to keep their rural environment.

A proposed four-storey, 125-unit retirement complex on a 19-acre property near the end of Sandy Point Road is being considered for approval by council.

The project is raising concerns for neighbours, who fear the development will cause environmental harm and increase traffic in the area.

The city is planning a public consultation in late March. After a call for input, 62 households responded: 56 letters were against the project, five were neutral, and one was in support.

Developer Scott Walton said Ethos Ridge is an unconventional retirement-home project. He said the physical site near Milledgeville and close to Pelton Road, the Sandy Point and Beach Road area, is of "paramount importance."

"Part of our vision is helping the residents feel like they're in an oasis. And so if you're looking for a site that has large acreage, it's waterfront, has elevated views and it's flush with trees, that was the only site that really met all of that criteria for us within the city," he said.

The proposed project is four kilometres from the Saint John Regional Hospital and seven kilometres from uptown Saint John.

Residents Kory Kinsella and Paul Desjardins live near the site of the proposed development. They both wrote letters against it, and they both said a large commercial development goes against the city's commitment to prevent urban sprawl.

"Had they been wanting to put single-family dwellings with well and septic systems similar to what's here, the neighbours would have been just rejoicing to see some new neighbours move in," Desjardins said. "But a seniors' complex of 125 units could generate 200 strangers who are really high-risk people to be put up over the hill where this is located."

Safety concerns

Kinsella said residents are worried that people who may need ambulance services may be too far away from the city centre for quick responses.

"It definitely has to do with the public safety, the fact that we're, you know, old narrow roads, no sidewalks. We have very, very little city infrastructure down there," he said.

Walton said the company took that into consideration.

"People mentioned the issue of the fire service station closing in in Milledgeville and that presenting problems. But when we looked at the service times, there are still like everything was in compliance with what would be required to keep people safe."

Walton said the project would be similar to nursing homes because it offers full food services and limited medical services, but it's for people who choose to live there before a serious heath event, as opposed to after.

"With a lot of these places there's a health event or a life event," he said. "And then, you know, the child of the parent has to arrange for them to go there. We're not targeting those people. We're targeting people who are focused on active, healthy living."

He said if the project and is approved and once it's built, monthly prices would be similar to a Shannex home, so between $2,900 and $4,400.

Environmental concerns

Dejardins said he is concerned about construction and possible contaminant runoff into the Kennebecasis River and the land surrounding it. He said most people in that area depend on well water, so they're worried their wells could get contaminated.

"If you start, you know, changing the trees and the growth of the grass and the fact that everything is hilly around here, if you're not at the very top of the hill, you're going to get water run on to you," he said.

Walton said once catchment basins and water rewriting routing equipment is installed, the neighbourhood is "going to see some positive change."

"There's going to be the pumping station was already slated for upgrade by the city before we endeavour down this road. And we're going to have a net zero impact on that," he said.

Changes already made, developer says

Walton said the company has already changed plans to accommodate some residents' concerns. For example, he said, originally the building was going to be perched up on a ridge, but after complaints, the company decided to move it close to the water. Then the company heard people on Pelton Road saying they're concerned that they were going to see it and hear noise on the site.

"So we removed it as far away from from that boundary as possible," he said.

"We moved the building around a lot, changed its design, made it more narrow just and had the landscape architects come up with a plan that would transplant in trees so we'd have a big vegetative buffer and barrier to buffer sound and noise and visibility," he said.