East side development adds 22 units in fourth iteration

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Developers behind a controversial multi-unit housing development off Loch Lomond Road are back with a new design for the project that incorporates a 27 per cent unit increase.

Michael Goldenberg and Paul Mangion’s 82-unit, seven-building project at 1429 Loch Lomond Rd. earned a narrow approval from Saint John council in March 2022 – then with two, three-storey apartment buildings of 30 units apiece, four, four-unit apartment buildings and a single six-unit apartment building.

At the time, the project was slapped with 15 conditions, including a six-year sunset clause in which full build-out was expected.

On Tuesday, Mangion presented a new proposal to the city’s planning advisory committee, this one with a total of 104 units spanning two, four-storey apartment buildings and 24 townhouses in three buildings of eight units each, the latter bordering the Ganong/Lakefield Court/Old Lake Trail subdivision.

The number of affordable units proposed has dropped from nine to eight.

After spending a year crunching numbers, Mangion said they realized they needed to adjust the project’s scale in order to make it viable.

“We did get a little bit overzealous on the original design,” he said at the meeting.

“So we went back to the drawing board, and we worked with the designers, the contractors again and we’ve got a model that does work right now, but it does require a four-storey building, which provides a lot of efficiencies for us.”

Mangion said the townhouses would be sold, while the apartments would be rented.

“The townhouses is something that can probably make attainable houses,” he said. “So at a reasonable price.”

The change in scope requires some amended conditions, which is why it was before the planning advisory committee on Tuesday. Prior to the rezoning approval in March 2022, the project had undergone a number of changes, starting with 136 units spanning eight, three-storey apartment buildings, then revised down to a 105-unit across 10 buildings project that was denied by the planning committee in late 2021 before the 82-unit proposal was brought forward.

With the property situated between two residential subdivisions of mainly single-family homes – Bon Accord and Ganong/Lakefield Court/Old Lake Trail – a petition and letter writing campaign by neighbouring residents was undertaken during the previous rezoning process, raising the issues of decreased privacy and quality of life and traffic and garbage concerns.

Only two residents spoke in opposition to the application at Tuesday night’s meeting, but one of them, Seamus Hanley of Old Lake Road, said neighbours “still feel pretty strongly about it.”

While Sean Hanley said he was “a little encouraged to see the town house part of it,” he still had concerns about the size of the development.

“We are having a development that is grossly oversized dropped into our well established, quiet and spacious neighbourhood,” said Trudy Hanley, who also spoke against the application, calling the proposed building height “overwhelming.”

Trudy Hanley also brought up traffic on Loch Lomond Road as a concern.

During their discussion, committee members toyed at the possibility of adding a sunset clause to the project to ensure it reached full build out.

Coun. Gerry Lowe had originally voted against the project when it came before council last year. He told Mangion on Tuesday that he was warming up to it, but still had a few concerns.

“What worries me is the idea that you build the first hole and you start your foundation, you go up … and then all of a sudden nothing happens with the second,” Lowe said, adding that he’d like some form of guarantee that the second building would be built.

City staff recommended against setting a sunset clause on the project. The clause on the previous proposal was added by Saint John council.

In a report prepared for the committee, staff said construction was planned for next summer or fall “with one apartment building constructed at a time.”

The townhouses would then be built afterward “when the market is more welcoming to a small townhouse model,” the report continued.

Mangion said there would be no reason for him not to build the second apartment building once he’s been able to fill the first with renters.

He said they were also looking into the possibility of a modular build, which would decrease construction time.

Committee member Anne McShane asked Mangion how confident he was the townhouses would be built.

“Everything that I tell you today is our intent going forward,” Mangion said.

“There’s a lot of old stock in this city that’s still relatively cheap, and that’s going to run out to a certain degree and it’s not going to remain cheap as the new construction goes on,” he continued, adding that while he doesn’t know how the townhouses will ultimately be priced, “they’re certainly going to be cheaper than singles and semis.”

The committee ultimately decided against recommending a sunset clause be added as a condition to the project.

“I don’t think that there’s any benefit, currently, in the way it’s laid out,” McShane said.

The application is up for consideration by Saint John council at a public hearing scheduled for Dec. 11.