Mayor pitches ‘design committee’ to preserve character of Fredericton neighbourhoods | CBC News

Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers is proposing the creation of a committee to ensure anticipated zoning bylaw amendments don’t drastically change the look and character of older neighbourhoods.

City planners are pursuing a suite of zoning bylaw amendments they think will help make housing more affordable across the city.

They say one of the most effective of those amendments would give downtown property owners the right to build or include up to six dwelling units in their building — without the need to get special planning permission.

Following a presentation by staff on Thursday, Rogers said she’s concerned the changes could alter the look and feel of some of the historic charm of the downtown and other neighbourhoods, where building designs, such as Dobie homes, a type of postwar gable-roof house that dates back to the 1940s, are prominent.

“A lot of those neighbourhoods are historic in the sense they’re a lot of the older housing stock, but also within our city centre core, [they tell] the story of the building of our city,” Roger said.

As new dwellings are added to existing neighbourhoods, “one of the best ways to make people feel OK about it is if … we really put in place some good design guidelines, if we activate a design committee that we’re entitled to have through legislation, but that our city does not have,” she said.

Rogers’s concerns are similar to those raised last year by Jeremy Mouat, president of the Fredericton Heritage Trust, who said such changes could see old historic homes bulldozed in favour of newer, denser apartments.

“Lots of streetscapes, in our view, need protection … and what we’re anxious about is the fate of these streetscapes, as development pressures are going to pick up,” he said in June 2022.

Deputy Mayor Greg Ericson said he’s also concerned about how the city will be able to preserve the character of its neighbourhoods if the proposed bylaw changes are adopted.

“I’ve been to a few communities, mostly in urban areas in the United States, where they’ve gone too far creating density and really change the nature of the neighborhood … and it just looks chaotic and doesn’t, I think, offer the things that are attracting people to Fredericton,” he said.

“Although I support, you know any red tape reduction … we don’t want to just roll over to these concerns and reduce the character of our neighbourhoods to something unrecognizable.”

Balancing density and neighbourhood charm

Senior city planner Frederick Van Rooyen said the proposal to allow up to six units in buildings downtown without planning permission is one of the most effective strategies the city is looking at in terms of zoning bylaw changes to encourage more affordable housing.

Part of that change would also see property owners across the rest of the city given the right to include up to two units in a home, including basement dwellings, without needing special planning approval.

Van Rooyen said currently, if someone wants to put more units in a home than is already allowed, they’d have to go through a planning process to have it approved.

“And what we’re trying to do with these amendments is try to reduce the amount of process so that we can get housing more quickly across the city,” he said.

Van Rooyen said as staff move forward, they’ll be looking at how to best balance the need for more density with the desire to keep the city’s historic charm.

“Staff have already started doing a background research on best practices and trying to find a solution for that balance and provide appropriate standards that are reasonable for Fredericton’s context.”

Van Rooyen said the city plans to host public engagement sessions on the changes next year before implementing them.