Planned harbourfront hotel too tall, public meeting told

A developer's plan to build a hotel on the St. John's waterfront met with opposition at a public meeting on Wednesday night from residents who worried it would create "a wall on the front of the harbour."

SouthWest Developers want the city to provide an exemption from height restrictions so it can build 140-room hotel on a prime piece of land at the corner of Water and Prescott streets.

Buildings in that area are to limited to four stories, or 15 metres. In the developer's plan, the hotel is described as being 17 metres tall.

But many at the meeting at City Hall didn't accept that number.

"The true height of the building isn't 17.8 — it is 23 metres," said resident Laura Halfyard. "Whichever way you look at it, it is a wall on the front of the harbour."

Exceptions, often controversial, have been made in the past but Jill Snowden, who has a house on Prescott Street, said this one should be blocked.

"We had enough exceptions to that and it's like a creeping ivy," Snowden said. "It goes up and up and up. And where is it going to stop?"

Snowden thinks approving the additional height will ruin cherished views of the harbour and Narrows, and set a bad precedent.

In August, the company submitted a revised version of the hotel plan, taking the height of the building down from 11 stories at Harbour Drive, south of Water Street, to eight stories. The hotel would stand six stories from its Water Street entrance.

It is not known when city council will make the decision on whether to allow the hotel to be built on the vacant waterfront lot.