Disappearing woods
Land owner clears forested area and requests rezoning for new housing developments
The woods where Nathan Perry played as a child is no more. The Summerside resident owns a home on Spruce Drive, off Route 11 at the western edge of the city. Recently, heavy machinery moved into the neighbourhood and cleared the woods from a large plot of land that wraps around the rear and one side of Perry’s home. “It’s a shame,” said Perry. Perry and many of his neighbours recently got letters in the mail informing them the owners of that land, listed as Clifford, Vanessa and Melissa McQuaid, had applied to the city to have it rezoned. A public meeting was held at city hall Tuesday night to discuss the rezoning. Perry and about 15 of his neighbours showed up to find out more about the project, but Perry left with more questions than answers. Developers are not typically required to give a reason when they ask the city for a rezoning. As such, the residents did not have a clear picture as to what exactly was being done with the property. A representative of the developer had been scheduled to be on hand at the meeting to answer questions but was not present. What the residents did know is that the land is split into two parcels. Both are currently zoned for use as potential additions to a mobile home park, but the owners have asked that one be changed to R2 and the other to R4. The city showed the residents a map of the developer’s proposed project, which had semidetached homes on several plots on either side of a cul-de-sac, and two larger plots at the rear of the property with two apartment buildings. The residents expressed a number of concerns with what they saw on the designs, especially the increase in traffic it would bring and the loss of privacy due to the cutting of the trees. They said traffic is already bad in their neighbourhood due to multiple speed bumps, some narrow streets and the fact that Spruce Drive is has a one-way exit at one end. Perry said it is the unknowns of the development that concern him the most. “They didn’t give details as to how many residents, the demographic – basically who is going to live there, and how busy it’s going to be,” he said. He added that he hopes residents will be provided more concrete details in the near future. The rezoning request will come back to council’s planning committee on Aug. 7 at 4:30 p.m. The committee will discuss the request and most likely send it back to council for a final vote.