Dozens from Charlottetown neighbourhood demonstrate over planned development

Dozens of people from a Charlottetown neighbourhood demonstrated in front of city hall Monday afternoon, ahead of a planning board meeting,over a new developmentthe residentssay will bringincreased traffic to the area.

The development on Trainor Streetwould be three buildings, a mix of townhouses and apartments. Each building would have 20 units, for a total of 60.

The buildings would be builtbehind Royalty Maple Cottageson Malpeque Road, at the corner of Trainor Streetand Katie Drive. The main entry and exit for the buildingswould be onto Trainor Street.

In June, council votedto approve the consolidation of two lotsto accommodate the construction of the buildings. Since then, an application for reconsideration was submitted by a group of residents in the areaasking council to take a second look at that decision.

"Our neighborhood of 145 homes has a number of small children. We have no sidewalks, there is asufficient amount oftraffic now," said organizer John Barrett.

"To add the number of cars 60 apartments would generate to the traffic, to the safety and just, you know, to the peacefulness of the neighborhood is of a great concern to everyone that lives there."

"We have a lot of young kids in this area and we [are] concerned about that it's going to be not that safe for the kids," said Yvonne Riu, who's been in the neighbourhood since 2017.

Resident Michael Murphy said, "the additional traffic into [the]neighborhood will not benefit the neighborhood in any way."

Demonstrators all said they're not against the development itself but want thetraffic redirected to MalpequeRoad instead.

Previously the city hadsaid a study done in the area, paid for by the developer,found the buildings would haveno significant impact on traffic, and thatthe neighbourhood has the capacity to handle more vehicles on the street.

The city has alsosaid it could add sidewalks, speed bumps or more signs in the area to address any safety concerns.

Council to decide if it will reconsider

During its meeting Monday, the planning board voted to recommend to city council that it should reconsider its decision to consolidate the two lots needed for the development to go ahead.

"There has been some feeling out there that things weren't handled the way they would like them handled," said planning boardchair, Mike Duffy.

"We discussed the pros and cons and the complaints that came in and the issues that were discussed and the concerns that people have with what has gone on in the past and it's been decided by the majority of the people on planning board that they would agree to send a recommendation to council to reconsider the TrainorStreet lot consolidation."

Duffy said members of the board voted 6-1 in favour of putting forward the recommendation. One board member declared a conflict of interest and did not vote.

He said the planning board recommendation will now go before council for a decision during its next regular meeting on Nov. 9.

More P.E.I. news