Canada/Fredericton City Council authorizes 4 units per residential property

City Council in Fredericton, New Brunswick, passed a zoning change on Monday that allows up to four units per residential property in the city.

This change is part of a series of measures that will give the Municipality access to $10.3 million over two years from the CMHC fund to accelerate housing construction.

Approximately 70 people attended the council meeting. Some people booed, which displeased Mayor Kate Rogers.

I will allow you to applaud, but not to boo, and I will ask the security service to expel the next person who makes a ruckus," she declared.

Ms. Rogers issued this warning in response to booing by citizens following an intervention by Councillor Cassandra LeBlanc, who supports the zoning change.

Single-family zoning, from my perspective as a 32-year-old woman who grew up in this city and loves it, is expensive and inefficient at best, and exclusionary and discriminatory at worst," said LeBlanc.

Citizens quickly booed her. I got a standing ovation, now I'm getting booed. I think I will have done everything I could at City Council," said LeBlanc afterwards.

Fredericton has a serious shortage of rental housing," said Councillor Jocelyn Pike, pointing out that the vacancy rate was only 0.9% last fall.

Demanding that neighborhoods be preserved in perpetuity for the lucky few who live there is at best shortsighted, at worst discriminatory, she added.

Details of the zoning change

The previous zoning bylaw allowed only two dwellings per residential lot in much of the city.

Homeowners will be able to apply for a permit to build or develop up to three additional dwellings on their lot, such as a basement apartment, an additional apartment or one on the roof of their garage.

Councillors approved two amendments to the new by-law before it was adopted. One prevents additional units from being converted to short-term rentals, the other requires owners to remain in their homes for at least a year before adding units.

Three councillors oppose the change

Councillors Bruce Grandy, Steve Hicks and Eric Megarity voted against the zoning change.

These decisions are made by a bureaucracy out of touch with the reality of municipalities," said Bruce Grandy before the vote. They're painting all municipalities with one brush, ignoring the fact that every municipality is different.

Eric Megarity called it interference in municipal planning.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/