Hoping to reverse decision

Charlottetown’s planning committee agrees to review request for reconsideration on north-end project

Residents of a north-end Charlottetown neighbourhood are a bit more optimistic that an approved development might be reconsidered by council.

Earlier this year, city council voted 7-3 to approve a lot consolidation that would see three apartment buildings built on Trainor Street.

Each of the buildings would contain 20 units.

The residential neighbourhood contains a network of streets that are bordered by Lower Malpeque Road and Malpeque Road.

John Barrett, a resident of Katie Drive which connects to Trainor Street and who speaks for the residents, said he filed a request for reconsideration of council’s decision on June 29.

The first step was having the city determine if his request met the city’s legal threshold.

Barrett said he was recently advised it did, which he said implies his request for reconsideration included legitimate concerns and was not simply a frivolous application because someone didn’t like a decision.

Council's standing committee on planning met June 1 and recommended council not approval the lot consolidation. One week later, council rejected the committee’s recommendation and voted 7-3 in favour.

“This is exactly what IRAC was talking about this past week when they overturned council’s decision on Palmers Lane,’’ Barrett said, referring to the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission’s decision to nullify council’s approval of an 18-unit apartment building earmarked for 38 Palmers Lane.

“Originally, the planning committee said no and council went ahead and said yes. Nice to see IRAC recognizing how silly that is.’’

Barrett said the new planning committee (the city shuffled its standing committees on Oct. 14) will review his request for reconsideration at its Nov. 2 meeting.

Council will consider the request at its regular monthly public meeting on Nov. 9.

Barrett said he hopes council will give more weight to the committee’s thoughts on the matter this time.

If council opts to reconsider the vote, the residents would be given an opportunity to state their case at another public meeting.

If council does not reconsider or if it does but the original decision stands, the residents are scheduled to appear before IRAC, Dec. 15-16.

GUARDIAN FILE PHOTO John Barrett, who is leading efforts to have Charlottetown council reconsider its decision to approve a project near his residential neighbourhood, says the planning committee is going to take another look at it first.