PAC recommends rezoning park - Apr. 27, 2010
Kathy Bockus/ Courier
Residents of Riverview Villas, condominiums beside Granville Park, and other neighbours on Prince William Street, packed the town's council chambers Monday night to hear developers outline their plans to build a seniors apartment complex on the parkland should the town rezone it and sell it to them.The developers, standing at top right, are Ray and Gerald Disher of Disher Enterprises and Dale Weeks of Hills Point Holdings. PAC voted to recommend continuing the rezoning process.
BY KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca
ST. STEPHEN – It came down to a vote of 3 to 2.
The St. Stephen Planning Advisory Committee has voted to recommend to town council that it proceed with the rezoning process for Granville Park.
The committee members voted on the issue after hearing presentations Monday night, April 26, from both the proponents and opponents of the rezoning.
Voting for the rezoning process to proceed were Robert Tinker and Jim Maxwell,who are also town councillors, and Greg Farrell.
Voting against the motion were PAC members Garth Orchard and Ed Zammit. The issue now comes before council which will decide whether to proceed. If the matter does proceed, public hearings will be held during three council meetings.
Two local businesses have formed a partnership and approached council with the idea of buying the .8 hectare (2 acre) property at 57 Prince William Street after it is rezoned to build a 30 unit apartment residence for senior citizens.
Neighbours in the area opposed to the loss of their green space showed up in full force at the PAC meeting.
PAC chair Ted Moore welcomed the residents to the meeting and explained before, during and after the presentations that the place to voice their arguments over the park’s rezoning would be before council during the public hearing process.
Tinker caused an outburst among the residents when he described Granville Park as “a prime piece of real estate that has been readily available for a number of years.” One elderly woman exclaimed, “But it’s a memorial”.
The land was the site of the Chipman Memorial Hospital and was donated to the town and named in honour of local resident Stanley Granville for his contribution to the establishment of the Charlotte County Hospital.
John Ferguson, the town’s chief administrative officer (CAO) explained the whole process up to the PAC meeting was carefully and thoroughly overseen by the town’s legal counsel. He also informed the meeting that the legal opinion on Granville Park was that when it was deeded to the town in 1968 it was to do with as the town saw fit.
The CAO said the 2010 Municipal Plan, still a working document, refers to a surplus of parkland which the town has difficulty maintaining.
Tinker said St. Stephen was a town with a small population. He said the cost of running a municipality was continually rising and that development helps reduce tax rate increases. Tinker said that and the importance of preserving green space were two things that council would have to consider.
Doug Bartlett, president of the Charlotte County Condominium Association, which represents the residents who live beside the park, said the group would continue its opposition to the rezoning at the council meetings.
He and others who spoke all made it perfectly clear that they had nothing against the proposed project’s developers, saying they had great respect for the work of Disher Enterprises which has built another senior apartment community nearby.
Prince William Street resident Don Olmstead said the public perception over the process leading to the PAC meeting was that there was a lack of equal opportunity to purchase the property and a lack of prejudice in the process.
When he asked, tongue-in-cheek if he could buy Dover Hill, another park, Tinker responded, “You can put a proposal in, certainly.”
Olmstead said he had a real problem with the location of the proposed apartment complex.
He said people who purchased homes next to the park did so with the long term, reasonable understanding they were going to be living next to a park, not a development.
He said that increasing the density of the most densely populated portion of St. Stephen next to the park while withdrawing the park, would seem to be the opposite of the reasonable direction municipal planning is heading.
Olmstead said there were other land purchase options in the town open to the developer, but that those options would cost more.
“It isn’t as if we don’t have a seniors development on that site that we won’t get it. If the demand is there it will get constructed elsewhere and that need will be met,” said Olmstead.
Dale Weeks, whose Hills Point Holding company is partnering with Disher Enterprises in the venture, told the meeting that the proposal came as a result of careful study and two public meetings held in St. Stephen and St. Andrews which showed the need for more seniors’ housing.
He said the most immediate need for this type of housing was shown to be in St. Stephen whereas a similar need in St. Andrews was five years down the road. He said the developers rationalize that since Granville Park was being under utilized, it might better serve as a location for necessary housing for seniors.
Weeks said when they approached the town with the idea, they were encouraged to proceed with a proposal.
Gerald Disher said other properties were considered, but it came down to economics in the choice of the Granville Park land. An independent appraisal has valued the property at $125,000 and Disher said they are willing to pay fair market value for the land.
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