Planning committee tables mini-home subdivision proposal

Recommendation on rezoning undeveloped parcel in Chatham coming this month

Local contractor Cole Price is looking to rezone most of the property highlighted in red to accommodate a proposed mini-home subdivision. (FREE PRESS PHOTO)

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MIRAMICHI - A local contractor’s proposal for a mini-home subdivision near the Chatham Industrial Park has been tabled by local planning officials after neighbours pushed back on the project.

At its May 29 meeting, the Greater Miramichi Service Commission’s city planning review and adjustment committee unanimously tabled an application from Pro-Built Homes owner Cole Price to rezone part of a parcel he recently acquired along King Street, Walsh Avenue, and Springvale Avenue from business light industrial (BLI) to mobile home/mini-home (RM) to accommodate Price’s proposed Kingswood Park development.

Price is also seeking a municipal plan bylaw amendment changing the property’s designation from industrial to residential.

The vote followed the submission of opposition letters by nearby residents Lynn Mercure, Cynthia MacDonald, and Amie Patterson. During the meeting, the committee also received photos and information from Mercure, which members said they needed time to process, as they weren’t included in the initial report. Planning director Justin Forbes said the omission was an oversight on his part.

While Mercure expressed concerns about the site’s proximity to a city wellfield, the condition of Springvale Avenue, and trees recently being cleared from the portion of the property subject to the rezoning application, committee chair Bill Treadwell said those issues won’t impact the committee’s decision to recommend the rezoning and municipal plan changes to city council.

The planning committee is now expected to decide on the rezoning at its June meeting. The application must still be reviewed by council after the committee provides its views.

“Two weeks after [Price] purchased the property, on April 17 and 18, a large mulching machine completely obliterated the forest on the land beside our street,” Mercure, a Springvale Avenue resident, said in a letter to the committee.

“There was no time for the purchaser to obtain the required approval from the provincial government to clear-cut this parcel of land. When residents realized almost all of the trees on the property were being destroyed [on April 17], it was too late to contact any government department. We were unable to do that until five days later.”