Stavanger apartment building plan has residents up in arms

A planned development for an apartment building in the Stavanger Drive area of St. John's has some residents in the area upset.

While that area of the city is known to have a lot of big box stores, it is also home to the Clovelly Trails subdivision.

Area resident Craig Rowe said people who bought or built homes in the subdivision had to agree to no apartments, including in-law suites.

"The issue is that when we all went there, we all signed [an agreement saying] there's no apartments allowed, and now all of a sudden there's 71 apartment units allowed in a very small lot, a four-storey building," she said.

"We all knew that there was going to be retail and commercial there, but apartments is one thing that's been specifically asked of us, or we all agreed not to do that, so that's the one type of occupancy that's been expressly excluded from the plan in that area."

Rowe said the city shouldn't change the rules that were put in place simply because a company now wants to put an apartment complex in the area.

"When the plan was made, when we all bought our houses and moved down there and signed those covenants, it said no apartments. Why now, because one company wants to do it, should all that change?"

Rowe said more than 150 people turned out for a public meeting held earlier this week for the rezoning proposal, most of whom, he said, wanted the city to turn it down.