Seniors ‘towers’ could be on the way for CBS

By Craig Westcott

The skyline in CBS may be in for some changes if a development application to build two apartment buildings in Long Pond gets approved.

The proposal was one of two major housing applications considered by council at its public meeting last week.

Both applications are early in the development process, councillor-at-large Rex Hillier noted, and in the case of the Long Pond proposal, will require a detailed Land Use Impact Report.

The smaller project, in Seal Cove, won’t change the town’s skyline, but would add residential density to a section of road across from the College of the North Atlantic campus by building 30 row houses targeted at seniors.

To make it work, the applicant, Kurt Hayward, who has already developed a substantial portion of Seal Cove with high quality, single family homes, needs to consolidate four separate parcels of land across three different land use zones situated at 1621 – 1633 Conception Bay Highway, as well as change the boundary separating rural and urban development under the St. John’s Urban Region Regional Plan.

“This file has come before us a couple of times in the past,” Hillier said.

Hayward cleared, filled and graded a portion of the 9.3-acre property several years ago, but didn’t proceed with building more houses at that time. Last year, after he applied to rezone the land parcels, the Town published public notices, held a public hearing, and asked the provincial Department of Municipal Affairs for comment.

The feedback from the public hearing and from three written submissions focused on the target demographic for the homes, stormwater and snow management, compatibility with the neighbourhood character and impact on property values.

Staff have noted to council that residential development in the area would mark a return on money the Town spent on water and sewer expansion in the area in 2017, and “provide relief for pent up demand” for that particular type of housing.

The next step will be another public hearing and a report by veteran planner Stephen Jewczyk, who will serve as a commissioner. The expenses for the hearing and report will come out of the developer’s deposit with the Town.

The second big development council dealt with involves the construction of two 6-story apartment buildings across the street from the old Avalon Club.

“What we’ve got here is a developer proposing to consolidate a number of properties and develop a multi-unit apartment complex,” Hillier said. “The proposal is for two six to seven-storey buildings with commercial community space on the ground floor. So really what you’ll have is two towers with a total of 300 apartment units on the upper floors. The overall height of the potential buildings are likely to be 20 to 30 metres. It does not fit current zoning, which is R2 (Residential) which allows for single, double and rural dwellings, so if council wishes to proceed with the rezoning we will be required to set up a new zone.”

The proposed location of the towers is several land plots that together form an irregular-shaped parcel measuring some 6.7 acres with 52 metres of frontage on Route 60 between Bentley Place and the Don Hennessey Building, but with most of the land located off the main road going all the way back to the T’Railway with another portion of frontage on Talcville Road.

The applicant is BGI Group Inc, a Toronto real estate development company with offices in the U.S., and Panama. BGI is representing Revive Church which has secured seed funding from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for the project. While the studio, 1-bedroom and 3-bedroom units are primarily designed for “the 55+ Boomer and following generations” interested in “active, independent Wellness living,” according to a Revive Church information circular, some 41 per cent of the units will be deemed affordable housing.

Revive Church is projecting monthly rents to range from $1,300 to $1,950 per month plus utility surcharges of $125 to $200 per month.

According to a briefing note prepared for council, Revive Church has purchase and sales agreements pending on the parcels of land if the project is approved by council.

The two apartment buildings, which would be operated as a non-profit venture, would be connected by 8,000 square feet of commercial and community space on their ground floors.

“This is a big project,” allowed Hillier. “This is not something that is going to happen by itself. Concurrent with this rezoning process, we will also require a land use impact assessment report from the developer. So that report will include such items as water supply, sanitary sewer capacity, stormwater management, traffic impact analysis, lighting impact, noise impact, shade and shadow analysis, and the applicant’s prior consultation with the community. We have started the rezoning process this evening by bringing this forward. Before we put our final stamp on that, we will have had a look at that land use assessment report and will have approved that in advance and be satisfied that the work this developer has done up front is satisfactory to our needs. So, it’s an exciting development, there’s no doubt about that, and something that we’ll be working towards over the next months and probably years.”

Hillier’s motion to undertake public consultations on the proposed zoning change passed unanimously.
“It is a big development,” Mayor Darrin Bent agreed. “It would be the largest multi-unit development in the town’s history… So, we’ll start the process to see if it’s fit to eat for the Town of Conception Bay South and we will go from there and see what it shows us and see what the results are, and then we’ll be back again.”