Dozens attend Summerside meeting on future of proposed 600-unit Greenwood Drive development
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — A residential growth of doubtless historic proportions acquired each a thumbs up and a thumbs down from Summerside’s planning board Tuesday night time.
Dozens of individuals packed into Summerside Metropolis Corridor on June 27 to search out out extra concerning the controversial undertaking, which is proposed for the northern finish of Greenwood Drive, adjoining to the neighbourhood often called Gavin Estates.
The proponent, Z & C Flourish Worldwide Ltd., has mentioned their decade-spanning plan for the property contains almost 600 new residential models throughout a spectrum of density varieties, from single-family properties to a number of house buildings.
The item of the assembly was for council to listen to suggestions from metropolis employees relating to some rezonings related to the proposal. Workers’s enter follows a public assembly that was held on June 14 – at which there was sturdy opposition to the rezoning.
Workers advised council they supported the concept of rezoning among the property in query from R1 to R2 to permit barely higher-density housing than single-family properties.
Nevertheless, they didn’t help the extra controversial facet of the proposal, which is the portion coping with the rise to high-density (R4) housing. A number of the property may very well be made appropriate for R4 housing, they mentioned, however to not the size at the moment proposed by the developer.
Workers additionally really useful council take a look at making a particular zone particularly for townhouse/rowhouse-style developments – one thing that’s at the moment handled below the identical R4 zoning as house buildings, which has precipitated some confusion and issues with this proposal. However that could be a separate dialogue that won’t impression this determination.
There was a prolonged dialogue across the council desk and a little bit of off-the-cuff forwards and backwards with some members of the viewers, however in the end planning board adopted the advice of employees and voted to help the smaller density rezoning, however not the bigger.
Council received’t make a closing determination on the proposal till its July 4 assembly.
Residents Wendy Gallant and Krista MacDougall welcomed the planning board’s determination. They’re a part of a gaggle of residents organizing towards the proposed rezoning and introduced council with a petition to that impact.
“We’re hopeful and optimistic that they stand their floor and vote (on the July 4 assembly) as they did tonight and dismiss the R4 zoning in that parcel,” mentioned MacDougall.
“It’s a really harmful street, Greenwood Drive,” added Gallant.
“My youngsters won’t drive their bikes down there as a result of they’re involved that they’ll get hit. It’s a lot too slim. We are actually being advised though it’s extraordinarily harmful now on Greenwood Drive and the intersection (with Pope Highway), we are actually being advised to anticipate it to be 5 instances busier.”
The considerations of space residents are many, however essentially the most distinguished has been that this new growth would, at first, have solely two entry roads, each of which hook up with Greenwood Drive. That street is already solely certainly one of two exits from the big neighbourhood of Gavin Estates.
Individuals in that space have been complaining for greater than a decade concerning the intersection of Pope Highway and Greenwood Drive and have mentioned that including 1000’s of extra automobiles to that intersection is “insane.”
Mayor Dan Kutcher advised the assembled crowd that whereas he understands a few of their considerations, the underside line is that Summerside is in a housing disaster. Regardless of a growth in building over the previous couple of years, the town remains to be not constructing sufficient residential models to fulfill even conservative estimates as to what’s wanted in the long run.
“If we as a neighborhood don’t do extra YIMBY and fewer NIMBY, we’re going to be in a whole lot of bother and we’re going to be again right here going, ‘What are we going to do about it?,’” mentioned Kutcher.
“This determination isn’t nearly … your feedback or simply about your considerations. This determination is, in a whole lot of methods, concerning the considerations of our neighborhood as we speak and our considerations of our neighborhood sooner or later.”
Council’s July 4 assembly begins at 6 p.m. and also will be broadcast reside on the town’s YouTube channel.
Colin MacLean is a reporter with SaltWire in Prince Edward Island. He may be reached by electronic mail at [email protected] and adopted on Twitter @JournalPMacLean.
