Residents thumbs down on proposed apartment building along Moira Street East


Residents thumbs down on proposed apartment building along Moira Street East

(Photo: Belleville Planning Advisory Committee agenda June 6 2022)

A three-storey, 36-unit apartment building proposed for land on Moira Street East near Riverside Park in Belleville is anything but popular with neighbouring residents.

The property is currently zoned to allow a maximum two-storey, 61-unit long term care home and the owners are applying to have it rezoned to allow the apartments.  There would be one, two, and three bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $1,500 to $2,400 a month.

Several nearby residents spoke against the plan at a Planning Advisory Committee meeting Monday citing traffic, environmental, quality of life, and noise concerns.

Neighbouring homeowner Sarah Simioni scoffed at the applicant’s traffic study which said the 36-unit building would create just nine new trips a day during peak traffic flows.

Simioni simply said residents could not believe that and that the intersections of College, Moira Street East, and Cannifton Road were already saturated and didn’t need a lot of new traffic.

Other objections were that the building’s construction would require the cutting down of mature trees and ruin the view for the homeowners in the area.

Several residents said there were plenty of apartment buildings in the immediate area and there was no need for another one.  The property is surrounded by mostly single-family homes and is near Prince of Wales school.

Another much-discussed worry was that construction would require blasting or ramming through shale rock to go below ground to allow for the building.  Residents worried about damage to their homes because of shockwaves and worried about health effects from noise and vibration that could last for about a month during construction.

One man, Wayne Patterson, insisted that if an apartment building were to be approved by the city, it should only be permitted to be two storeys in height.

However, Patterson demanded the committee and council reject the proposal out of hand as it didn’t fit in with the neighbourhood, wasn’t needed, and definitely wasn’t wanted.

No decision was made by the Planning Advisory Committee.  Staff will consider the residents’ objections and the developer’s plans and bring a recommendation report back to committee
at a future date.

(Photo: Belleville Planning Advisory Committee agenda June 6 2022)

 



Source link

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *