60 units possible under Rockwood Park development proposal

City of Saint John planning staff have laid out their proposal to bring residential housing to a plot of land in Saint John'sRockwood Park.

Councillors are being advised to open the door to medium-density development on the controversial 15-hectare site on Sandy Point Road.

That could result in a 60-unit project with a mix of semi-detached homes and apartments.

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The development would be accompanied by a public road to a new trail head for the park, along with a lookout and some additional walking trails.

It is recommended that proceeds from the sale of the land go toward upkeep of the park.

"This option infills a vacant property on a developed corridor within the primary development area where infrastructure exists," said the report written by Jody Kliffer and Phil Ouellette.

It is projected that such a development would generate between $168,000 and $248,000 in annual property tax revenue.

Members of the city's growth committee are to review the recommendation at their meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Joan Pearce of Friends of Rockwood Park said sheexpected city staff to push ahead with a development proposal for the site.

An earlier proposal for the same property was rejected by a previous city council in 2010 in the face of fierce opposition from the community.

What we have now is an erosion of the parkand this will continue to happen.- Joan Pearce, Friends of RockwoodPark

Pearce fears the move on the Sandy Point Road property will open the door to further development incursions into the park.

"If that goes through, then there are maybe nine other city-owned properties that border the park that are right now in parkland," said Pearce.

"So this likely means that all of [these] are going to be taken in. What we have now is an erosion of the park and this will continue to happen."

The report says city staff reviewed the option to develop the property with sixdevelopers, a majority with successful projects in the Millidgeville area.

Two said they would have an "active" interest in developing the site but, given the opposition, wouldconsider the matter only if the "park" zoning is lifted in advance.

In the meantime, Deputy Mayor Shirley McAlary said big questions remain unanswered.

She's particularly concerned that there's been no discussion of how much money the city will make from the land, other than property tax revenue, if it is successfully developed.

"The city has made the statement 'We're going to get a lot of money from these two pieces of land,' but they have never said, 'Well, we're going to sell that land for x number of dollars.' That's never come up in a conversation. Are you just going to give it to some developer that might come along?

"Nobody at city hall, nobody from the growth committee, we have never discussed that."

If the development proposal is approved by the growth committee, itwillmove to city council and the city's planning advisory committee for consideration.