City hopes zoning amendments will 'expedite' apartment construction

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The City of Bathurst intends to make bylaw amendments it hopes they will speed up the process of building new apartment buildings in the city’s downtown core.

Planning director Marc Bouffard told council during the April 15 meeting the suggested amendments relate to parking and multi-family dwellings in the city’s central business district zone that will remove inconsistencies in the current zoning bylaw “that may delay the issuance of building permits for multi-family dwellings.”

The first proposed amendment would reduce the current bylaw requirement for one-and-a-half parking spaces per apartment unit be changed to one parking space per unit since many smaller apartments are not a suitable size for families.

“If you have an apartment building of 30 units, 45 parking spaces would be required and we feel this is perhaps too many,” he said, adding the provincial zoning standard is one parking space per unit.

The other proposed change would remove “contradictory standards” for apartment buildings in the central business district.

Bouffard explained the current bylaw states different standards for an R4 zone, which is allowed a maximum of 32 units with a maximum height of 7.3 metres and a floor area ratio of 50 per cent. Another place in the bylaw says residential zoning in the central business district can be up to eight storeys and 29.3 metres.

“There’s a contradiction between these two standards and sometimes if you’re not sure you may have to bring it to the PAC (Planning Advisory Committee) for a variant, and that will just add more time to the approval process,” he said.

Bouffard said the city plans to remove the R4 standard.

“It’s simple but it may help to expedite the approval process for apartment buildings in Bathurst,” he said.

The proposed changes are “consistent with the intent of the housing accelerator fund,” Bouffard said.

Bathurst was one of four municipalities in the Chaleur and Acadian Peninsula regions to receive funding from the federal fund aimed at accelerating the process of building more housing to address the current housing crisis.

Bathurst will receive $3 million from the fund, which the city says will help build at least 160 units. The city has not yet released the details on how that money will be distributed.

Coun. Dale Knowles noted many municipalities are building higher as a way to create more housing using less land.

Bouffard said increasing the current city limit of eight storeys will require further research.

“When we redo the municipal plan and the zoning bylaw we may reconsider all those development standards in a complementary way,” he said.

“Tonight, it will help address some projects in the short-term.”

Later in the meeting, council passed a resolution to begin the bylaw amendment process.

The proposed zoning amendment will go before the planning advisory committee April 30.

Residents can submit written letters of objection or support for the proposed amendments to the city by May 3 and a public hearing of objections will be held May 6.