Saint John halts Rockwood Park development

Saint John council abruptly halted development plans to put residential unitsin Rockwood Park along Sandy Point Road.

Developers had hoped to create a series of "high-quality homes" on roughly 14 hectares of property inside Rockwood Park, which is often described as Canada's largest urban park.

Critics of the plan had voiced their oppositionduring a public meeting in late August.

And those opponents to the residential development project earned a surprise victory on Monday when Saint John council voted 6-4 to scrap the initiative.

'We won, but it was a very hard, hard, hard won fight.' Joan Pearce, Friends of Rockwood Park

Coun. Mel Norton said the policy reversal speaks to the council's willingness to listen to what people in the city were saying about the proposed project.

"The people are saying, our people are saying, 'We don't want to go further with this anymore,'" Norton said.

Council voted in June 2009 to allow 48 townhouses to be built in the area. That decision sparked a fierce debate about development in and around the park.

Rockwood Park has 890 hectares of wetlands and forest.

Deputy Mayor Steven Chase said his views shifted on the contentious file after listening to people speak out on the development plan.

"My thinking certainly has developed, I think in sync with community values," Chase said.

Joan Pearce, the chair of Friends of Rockwood Park, said the group was very happy with the council's decision.

"We won, but it was a very hard, hard, hard won fight," Pearce said.

The Saint John council also voted to look for ways to make changes to a roadway that had already been pushed in near the park's Harrington Lake.