CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Charlottetown city council has cleared the way for an 18-unit apartment building on Palmers Lane.
At a special meeting last Thursday, council voted 5-4 in favour of the second and final reading to a bylaw amendment that will rezone 38 Palmers Lane, in the neighbourhood of Parkdale, from R2 to R3 to make the project possible.
Planning board had recommended council not approve the rezoning request but council voted 5-4 in favour following the first reading at the regular public meeting on Sept. 9.
Following the second reading on Thursday, councillors Mitchell Tweel, Jason Coady, Bob Doiron and Julie McCabe opposed the amendment. Voting in favour were councillors Greg Rivard, chairman of the planning and heritage committees, Alanna Jankov, Terry MacLeod, Terry Bernard and Mike Duffy. Coun. Kevin Ramsay was absent.
Area residents who attended a public meeting on this issue were opposed to the project, voicing concern over density, changing the neighbourhood, the fact there is a 12-unit complex adjacent to the vacant lot the 18-unit building is proposed for and the increase in traffic.
Tweel, who represents the ward, was furious following the vote on Thursday, calling it a “railroading job’’ by council.
He said residents were not notified that second reading was going to take place at a special council meeting and not at the next regular public meeting on Oct. 14.
However, Mayor Philip Brown said the city does not send out notices for a second reading but that the agenda for the special meeting on Thursday was posted on the city’s website.
Tweel countered that not everyone uses the internet. He also pointed out that Thursday’s meeting was at 4 p.m., a time when many of the affected residents would have been at work.
“(The mayor) preaches openness and transparency and accountability,’’ Tweel said. “I will tell you one thing, Mr. Mayor, the residents of Palmers Lane are not too happy. In fact, there are other words to describe it.’’
Brown said he put the Palmers Lane issue on agenda at the special meeting because “we have to start forwarding some of these issues’’ and that the city has to be accountable to developers as well.