Fredericton council green lights 6-storey apartment building despite lack of services

Fredericton city council has approved a six-storey, 147-unit apartment development in spite of concerns from some councillors about the lack of services for the area.

The building is planned for Duncan Lane, a neighbourhood with mostly single-detached homes, no sidewalks and no public transportation link.

Ward 12 Coun. Henrii Mallet raised his concerns at the Monday night meeting, saying he was worried about whether enough consideration was being given to capital investments when considering development.

“I understand the need for housing in our city and the pressure with the vacancy rate we currently have in the city,” he said. “But I believe the application is premature as we have limited information at this time.”

He said the type of development requires the right infrastructure to support building proposed for this established neighbourhood, which currently doesn’t exist.

To catch a bus, a person must cross Prospect Street, which is a four-lane highway. The building will also be built on a blind hill and traffic coming off Prospect are typically going at a high rate of speed.

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Some of those things were pointed out in the letters of objection filed to the city’s planning advisory committee.

Mallet said there also needs to be some consideration given to how the province could assist in improving the traffic in the area.

Fellow Ward 1 councillor Margo Sheppard agreed that the motion should have been tabled until there could be further discussion on the development.

“This is 147-units that (are) going into a place with no transit, no sidewalks and in part it is a great proposal … it’s difficult but the developer builds apartment isn’t necessarily going to build services.”

Coun. Cassandra LeBlanc also supported Mallet’s motion to table it for further discussion, which was ultimately defeated.

Chief Administrative Officer Stephen Hart said he understood Mallet’s concerns.

“There is absolutely a requirement for the city to align it’s capital infrastructure better with it’s growth areas,” he said. “I understand that our history is not great and our track record might not be what we like to see.”

Hart explained it is intending to have a long-term financial plan as part of the budget in the fall, which should help outline the investment for capital infrastructure.

He said while it should be a plan that looks forward for the next five years, he could not provide anything specific on Duncan Lane.