TIME LOST AND MONEY WASTED
Charlottetown, the capital city that has made national headlines for its low residential vacancy rate since before the pandemic, made headlines again when the federal government rewarded its lacklustre performance with $10 million to fast-track housing development already underway. The article (Growing up, not out, Feb. 10) featured in The Guardian identified the money is for bureaucracy and administration. The money, it appears, will not construct anything.
Unlike the Town of Stratford, with its comprehensive development plan, that allows developers to get moving with ambitious plans to build, Charlottetown continues to craft its plan that is now 25 years in the making.
It costs developers significantly to present project proposals. The city has turned away two attempts at developing a much-needed residential project at Prince and Grafton streets. In the absence of more people living downtown there are lost employment opportunities and lost tax revenues. Unmentioned is how these same players have participated in hollowing out downtown Charlottetown by moving federal and provincial offices to the suburbs, which contradicts all their talk about carbon reduction.
It is more challenging to operate a business downtown without a critical mass. The incentive to live downtown is not there when work has moved to West Royalty. And more people are reliant on a car to get to work. The news does not detail what conditions Charlottetown has agreed to, but you just know it probably includes cycling lanes and things that no one was consulted on.
When you see millions of dollars going to a displaced intersection to access Hillsborough Bridge, the $10 million for this Charlottetown-ottawa agreement on administration so that youth can dream of living in a mini-home in someone’s backyard, and more than $5 million to have “Prince Edward Island” on the boards at a NHL game, you are left without any confidence that we are on track to build needed housing for people.
The city simply needs to co-operate with developers, let the private sector get on with projects to completion and governments need to stop shuffling around money they don’t have.
Jason Mackay, Charlottetown, P.E.I.