Residents of south end Halifax are launching a campaign against a highrise proposal on Inglis Street that would put two towers next to Saint Mary's University.

An Ottawa-based developer has proposed the towers should be 27 and 31 storeys.

"It's pretty obvious that it would disrupt the neighbourhood," said Pat Whitman, the chair of the Park to Park Community Association, which opposes the development.

"These are R-1 zoned houses and [we] always believed they would be protected by the university zone that was developed over the years."

The well-known Fenwick Tower, which is also located in the south end, is 33 storeys high. Whitman's organization compares the proposal to the Fenwick building.

The site of the two proposed towers is 5900 Inglis Street, which is currently the Canadian Martyrs Church. Ashcroft Homes submitted the proposal for a university student residence, after successfully bidding to buy the site from the Roman Catholic Church earlier this year.

In order to raise funds for another church, the parish made the decision to sell the Canadian Martyrs property, which had historic ties to Saint Mary's University and had been given a university zoning in the 1970s.

According to the city, the site is still zoned "low-density university" for the front portion and "high-density university" for the back portion. There is no height limit on the back portion of the site, farthest from Inglis Street. A student residence is permitted in those zones under the land-use bylaw.

However, when Ashcroft submitted a proposal for the 27- and 31-storey towers to the city, a development officer decided against the proposal and refused to issue a development permit on Aug. 9.

Ashcroft is appealing that decision to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, arguing that decision doesn't comply with the bylaw.

Ashcroft's CEO David Choo declined to do a formal interview, but explained that his company did not ask Halifax to change any zoning. Instead, the zoning had been in place for decades.

Choo also said he sees the proposal as the "future" of student housing. Ashcroft has built other student residences in Ottawa. The Halifax proposal is similar, and will be targeted at upper-year students who tend to move off campus. Choo thinks the building will bring more people and business to the city centre, as he feels that living in the downtown area is becoming more desirable.

Another developer disagrees with Ashcroft's position. Scott Armour McCrea, the CEO of Halifax's Armour Group, said he has serious concerns about the proposal.

McCrea, who lives around the corner from the proposed development, is leading a newly formed residents group called the Community Coalition of South End Halifax.

"A UARB decision to overturn this ruling would throw into complete disarray the municipal planning strategy that everything is based [on]," said McCrea. "It would, more importantly, breach the trust that this entire community placed in that document. No one would have passed the municipal planning strategy if they felt that this could take place."

McCrea's group is supporting Park to Park, which will speak for residents at the utility board hearing on Oct. 25.