The City of St. John’s is one step closer to adopting a new development plan following the passing of a motion in support of Envision St. John’s Development Regulations.
The plan is being developed around five key themes that include environmental systems, a strong economy, transportation and infrastructure, healthy neighbourhoods and urban design.
A set of goals and objectives has been affixed to each category based on the city’s overall vision to guide the creation of development regulations.
“Envision reflects the directions of council on land use policies and incorporates wide-ranging public commentary,” said Coun. Maggie Burton, lead councillor for planning and development.
“Together, the new plan and development regulations articulate our approach to future land use and development in St. John’s, and we are very pleased with the final results.”
In the Urban and Rural Planning Act, a municipal plan is adopted for a 10-year planning period, with a regular review scheduled every five years.
“Until a new plan is ready, the existing plan remains in effect and does not expire,” Burton said. “The current St. John’s Municipal Plan, 2003, has been amended from time to time and will remain in effect until the new Envision Plan and Regulations have been adopted and approved by council and registered by the minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment.”
The draft Envision Municipal Plan was published for public review in 2014, edited in 2017 and updated to the present date with some changes to ensure that all standards proposed in the draft Development Regulations are enabled by the draft Municipal Plan.
“Until a new plan is ready, the existing plan remains in effect and does not expire." — Coun. Maggie Burton
A number of people were credited with the creation of the document and included consultant Mary Bishop, FCIP, Cliff Johnston, MCIP (retired director of planning), and many community organizations, business groups and residents.
Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O’Leary paid homage to Shannie Duff, who she called a major proponent of projects like this.
Duff was steadfast in maintaining heritage properties and building styles through her years on council.
O’Leary said she would be pleased this plan — the Envision Municipal Plan — will continue the city’s policies on heritage and its ongoing protection and future use.
Many of the standards and regulations in the current St. John’s Development Regulations will be transferred to a new St. John’s Heritage Bylaw, currently in development, which will be made available for public review and comment before final approval.
A technical briefing was held prior to the regular council meeting on Monday regarding the draft development regulations.
The regulations are available on the city’s website, and the public can continue to comment on the regulations by using engagestjohns.ca until they are enacted sometime in the near future. A public information session is also being planned for this spring.
The big ideas
The following are a list of criteria for the Envision St. John’s Development Regulations:
- Balanced growth strategy
- Open space integration into development
- Intensification areas: mixed use, higher density, additional height, urban renewal
- Infrastructure investment: complete streets
- Neighbourhood planning: Local Area Plans
- Urban design: human scale, neighbourhood fit, buffering, building height and setback
- Downtown: development, height, heritage
- Healthy Community Development – universal design, connectivity, walkability
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