Residents eager for public meeting
Traffic, noise, loss of green belt all concerns with Penney Crescent development
From her doorstep on Penney Crescent, Yvonne Mcgrath didn’t hesitate when asked if she had heard about a new subdivision proposed for her area. The entrance would not be far from her home, on the other side of the street.
“We’re totally against it,” she said, referring to herself and her husband.
Their main concern, she said, is traffic. She wondered aloud at what 95 more homes might mean in that regard. But she also isn’t thrilled with the idea of cutting down trees and building homes on the green buffer now sitting between her St. John’s street and the Outer Ring Road.
A couple of houses down, Sue Martin said she is also opposed to the development proposed by Powderhouse Hill Investments, regardless of the official review to date.
Martin said she will attend an Aug. 8 public meeting to object to a requested rezoning for the project.
“I will be there and I know many other residents will be there,” she said.
Development at the site has been talked about for years, she said, admitting she never expected it to actually happen.
“To tell you the truth, I’m a little bit shocked it’s gotten even to this stage,” she said.
Key provincial approval awarded
The subdivision project was put forward in 2012, with construction proposed for 2013-14, but the developer needed to address the land’s status. Part of the 17.5-acre area was formerly protected wetland. The change in status followed a consultant’s review.
A 2012 report from Stantec found the area to not be valuable, ecologically speaking, as a wetland. The area is not protecting species at risk, it noted; it was found to be too small to be hydrologically significant; and it’s mainly fed by direct precipitation, versus surface runoff.
The provincial Department of Environment, reviewing available information, including the report, issued a “permit to alter a body of water” specific to the development in August 2013. It noted the project still requires city approval and compliance with any city zoning and regulations.
The city’s planning and development committee sought more in a detailed study and report by CBCL Ltd. — the same firm the city trusted for an unrelated review of the Rennie’s River watershed. The review of the subdivision project was at the expense of the developer.
The report, from September 2016, included additional fieldwork results, a determination on the significance of the wetland area, review of the proposed means of handling future storm water and discussion of the anticipated effects on the local watershed.
As the City of St. John’s stated in a notice to area residents last week, the designation of significant wetland was issued in 1993. “However, based on a recent wetland report conducted by the City of St. John’s and CBCL Ltd., council has agreed to consider removing the wetland protection from this land.”
Area meant for development: Clarke
The next step for the developer is rezoning.
Powderhouse Hill’s Bill Clarke encouraged people to bring their concerns to the public meeting, noting more information such as traffic numbers is available in a Land Use Assessment Report with the city.
“Residents in the area may very well prefer to have this land kept undeveloped. That is a natural reaction. The not-inmy-backyard attitude is what most developments face in the application process,” he said in an email Monday, also taking questions by phone.
“The fact is, 15 years ago, in anticipation that this property may be developed in the future, three access points were designed and maintained over the years in order to provide entrances and exits into the site to permit a development design.”
He highlighted the empty lot adjacent to the existing Penney Crescent playground and similar access points along Jackson Place and Ledingham Place.
“Anyone purchasing a home in this area would have seen these access points and anticipate there might be some development in the future,” he said.
He also noted the development he has worked on will add cash to the public coffers in permit fees, boost city tax revenue and offer jobs, in addition to offering new homes.
The land for the development is owned by the Anglican Church — Diocesan Synod of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador. The church is not involved in the development, with agreement for sale upon rezoning.