St. John's council gives blessing to controversial hotel bid

In a unanimous decision, St. John's city council voted Monday evening to allow a hotel to be built near the base of Signal Hill.

Although many residents of the Battery area spoke out against development company Nolan Hall's plan to build a hotel-condominium complex on Temperance Street, councillors said the proposal meets zoning, height, traffic, parking and sightline regulations.

Coun. Shannie Duff, a heritage champion who has fought many proposals during her lengthy career, approved the proposal.

"I could not in all conscience oppose a development that not only meets but has made a really sincere effort to respect the private views and to respect the location," she said.

The vote, though, was approved only in principle.

Alison Dyer, who has lived in the area for 20 years, said she will work with other residents on lobbying council before a building permit is approved.

"Today's meeting, again, was a sham," Dyer said.

"I'm unhappy to the point of being outraged … Unfortunately, city councillors did not have all the information at their fingertips and some of the information was actually incorrect."

Dyer said councillors did not have the correct view plane analysis. She said council is looking at the hotel in isolation, and not considering the cumulative effect that other, similar developments are having in the area.

Among other things, she said increased traffic would make it more dangerous for people living in the neighbourhood, and that parking will be a problem.

The proposed hotel will be built on the site of a former salvage yard, and near Margaret O'Brien Park. That small park was dedicated to the memory of a Battery resident who was designated Newfoundland's "most bereaved mother," because her four sons died during the Second World War.

The proposed hotel would block some of the views from the park.

Margaret Osmond, O'Brien's granddaughter, thinks council needs to rethink its priorities.

"Years down the road, if anything happens to this oil boom, who's going to rent all these hotels and stay in them, view or no view?" she told CBC News this weekend.