It could be viewed as merely a technicality for the City of St. John’s — making amendments to the city’s municipal plan and development regulations that would allow for the smooth construction of the already approved Salvation Army Centre of Hope on Springdale Street.
But in the real world — or the real city — development projects can sometimes be tense and controversial, and it’s important to cross all the T’s and dot the I’s in order to prevent future problems.
At the weekly city council meeting Tuesday, council voted to adopt in principle the resolutions for St. John’s Municipal Plan Number 136, 2018 and St. John’s Development Regulations Amendment Number 625, 2018.
Both are related to the zoning requirements for the five-storey Salvation Army supportive housing facility planned for 18 Springdale St. The facility will provide 20 affordable housing units, mental health services, drug addiction programs, a health clinic, a food bank and emergency disaster services at a construction cost of $14 million.
Adopting the resolutions will redesignate and rezone the area from institutional zone to institutional downtown zone. The change will allow the regulations to be more fitting to development projects in tight downtown lots.
The resolutions will now be sent to the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment with a request for what is called a provincial release. Once that is received, the amendments will be referred back to council for formal adoption, and appointment of a commissioner to conduct a public hearing as is required by the Urban and Rural Planning Act.
Coun. Maggie Burton, planning and development lead on the report, and who was participating in Tuesday’s meeting through an audio feed from another location, said she is pleased with the recommendation for the changes so the project can go ahead without problems.
Coun. Ian Froude wanted assurance that the parking level of the building would be underground and would not be what people first see at the street level when they approach the building.
City staff confirmed the parking level would be underground.
The motion to adopt in principle the resolutions passed unanimously.
A ground-breaking ceremony was held in March and construction of the Centre of Hope is expected to begin this spring. It is hoped to be completed and operational by 2020.
The site of its construction is the location of the former Salvation Army Harbour Light building that had helped men with alcohol and drug addiction, and the former Catherine Booth House that had helped women and children leave unsafe living environments. Both of the old buildings had deteriorated and were torn down about four years ago. The site has been used for a parking lot since then.
In its vision for the centre, the Salvation Army on its website states, “As the province faces a looming opioid crisis and rising unemployment, the need for housing, employment resources and health services is more pressing than ever before. Offering housing units for the homeless, life-saving addictions services and practical job training, the Centre of Hope will respond to this need by offering a veritable lifeline to those of us who will become casualties of an uncertain economy. Slated for construction in 2018, the Centre of Hope will continue The Salvation Army’s century-long legacy of providing support and resources to the most marginalized citizens of St. John’s — at the precise time that it is most needed.”
In 2017 the city gave the Salvation Army a capital grant of $175,000 during the fundraising drive for the facility, and also waived an estimated $150,000 in permits for the project.
