Cornwall, P.E.I. council debates rezoning of commercial land to residential

CORNWALL, P.E.I. — Cornwall, P.E.I. residents can have an opportunity this fall to debate an area zoning situation that includes a sibling of the city’s mayor.

On the city’s Aug 17. common assembly, Coun. Shane McGuigan moved a decision that known as for a public assembly about land use on a Cornwall Street property owned by Peter McDonald.

The proposed rezoning would contain altering a business property to residential and the city’s committee of council beneficial the problem go public, McGuigan’s decision stated.

“The city acquired an software on July 4, 2022, to rezone PID 777557 enterprise park (M2) to rural residential (RR) to permit the development of a single household dwelling.”

After the planning committee seemed on the proposal however didn’t make a proper suggestion, McDonald gave his proposal to an Aug. 10 committee of council assembly.

That committee beneficial the problem go to a public assembly, and the decision handed 3-2 after some temporary debate.

Avoiding battle

SaltWire spoke with Mayor Minerva McCourt on Aug. 19, who stated she has not been concerned within the zoning course of after declaring a battle of curiosity.

PBJ Building Inc. owns the lot, and McDonald, the proprietor of PBJ, is McCourt’s brother.

With years of expertise in municipal politics, McCourt has been on this scenario earlier than and isn’t involved about even an obvious battle, as a result of she is following the usual authorized course of, she stated.

“We’ve had different issues go ahead. It’s no completely different than councillors — rise up and declare your battle,” she stated. “This can be a authorized factor. This can be a planning board situation. That is improvement, and the planning board and whoever all is concerned should comply with the legalities of it.”

Her view is that, if a member of council thinks they might be in battle, they in all probability are. So, it’s finest to simply step away from the method, since an look of a battle can imply as a lot as an precise battle.

SaltWire known as McDonald on Aug. 19 to ask about plans for the lot, however he declined to remark.

Debate

Throughout the council debate on Aug. 17, Coun. Corey Frizzell spoke after McGuigan learn the decision, saying he wouldn’t help it.

“I feel the property’s finest use and most beneficial use to the city is as a business property,” he stated.

McGuigan, nonetheless, identified the lot was zoned agricultural (A1) for 32 years, ending within the spring of 2022, and was vacant this entire time. Whereas rezoning once more would imply dropping potential business income, the swap to residential with a deliberate construction would at the very least usher in one thing, McGuigan stated.

“That lot sat vacant from 1990. It didn’t get any tax cash. Right here we now have an organization and an individual and a household prepared to place a home on it, so we will achieve tax {dollars}.”

“The ink isn’t even dry on the official plan, and right here we’re taking business property and contemplating rezoning business property to rural residential. To me, it simply doesn’t make sense.” – Coun. Corey Frizzell

In an Aug. 19 interview after the decision handed, Frizzell talked extra about tax income and the official plan, which was a number of years in improvement and solely finalized within the spring of 2022.

There was group engagement all through the plan improvement, however Frizzel stated the problem of zoning on the Cornwall Street property didn’t come up — at the very least, to not his data.

“The ink isn’t even dry on the official plan, and right here we’re taking business property and contemplating rezoning business property to rural residential. To me, it simply doesn’t make sense.”

Whereas the planning committee didn’t make an official suggestion towards the rezoning, they did seek the advice of with the city’s lawyer, whose authorized recommendation was rezoning would price the city business income, Frizzell stated.

With Cornwall being the quickest rising group in P.E.I. with a inhabitants of over 5,000, the city is clearly affected by the Island’s housing disaster, Frizzell stated.

However, as a result of the proposed residence would solely be a single-family residence, he doesn’t suppose it will make an actual influence on housing inventory. He urged Cornwall might produce other land that could possibly be developed residentially.

“There’s new developments which are getting up and going right here very quickly in Cornwall,” Frizzell stated.

In an electronic mail on Aug. 18, Kevin Coady, Cornwall’s CAO, stated the general public assembly will doubtless be towards the tip of September, together with a number of different objects.

Logan MacLean is a reporter with the SaltWire Community in Prince Edward Island. He might be reached by electronic mail at [email protected] and adopted on Twitter @loganmaclean94.