CONFIRMED — ZONE CHANGES WILL SET PRECEDENT
On Saturday May 11 Marianne Meed-Ward hosted a meeting with St. Luke’s Precinct residents, rx City Planning and the Cameryn Lanes developer Maurice Desrochers as an opportunity for residents to review Desrochers’ revised townhouse development plans and express their opinions. A fantastic neighbourhood turnout was audience to two great questions and answers:
1. Planning was asked if a change to zoning on even a single lot or group of lots would cause a precedent of change, website like this influencing future zone change decisions with city staff and council — the answer was YES.
2. Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed-Ward was asked directly if she would defend her council’s 2008 decision to protect St. Luke’s Precinct from zone changes — to stick with the Official Plan and protect the precinct from development that applies to change the zoning.
Marianne answered emphatically YES.
What does this mean?
This means that if residents and council allow the developer — or any future developer — to change zoning once, on any lot, of any rezoning type — the precedent will be set that zoning CAN be changed in the St. Luke’s Precinct. And once changed, it is done and gone forever opening up the area to all kinds of zone change requests for various densities, heights, building types or forms. This will change the character of the area forever.
What is Next?
Please be sure to voice your opinion — here in comments and to council. If you’d like to be kept in the loop, email us. Also be vocal in social media and with your neighbours. The more people are informed, the better.
We are awaiting confirmation of when the developer submits a formal application. We hope that the developer will reconsider their proposal and look for alternatives to changing the zoning and altering the character of the area we love. We hope the developer will consider either:
1. propose a development of single family homes that fits the community form, befitting the character of the neighbourhood
2. sell the properties to individuals who can carry on with the natural evolution of building and renovating single family homes one at a time
3. continue to rent them as part of the developer’s Downtown Executive Rentals’ rental pool