Saint John councillors may rewrite heritage bylaw

Saint John city council will be asked to push through changes to the city's Heritage Conservation bylaw at a special meeting today.

The move would give the planned Irving Oil Ltd. home office building a fresh green light for construction.

The proposed change would simply write new heritage rules specifically for the Irving-owned properties on Kings Square south.

They would permit the setbacks and building height requested by Irving for the 11-storey building.

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The unprecedented move comes after a neighbouring property owner, Jim Bezanson, filed a formal appeal to the province's assessment and planning appeal board.

Bezanson argues the building would be too tall and set too far back from the sidewalk and therefore, doesn't comply with city heritage preservation bylaws.

The move effectively stops construction and it is not known how long it will take to get a decision through the appeal process.

The end-run proposed by city planning staff would take about three weeks.

Expedited timeline

An expedited timeline laid out in a report for city council would see the new rules get final council reading May 2.

According to the staff report the schedule would allow the changes "as quickly as existing legislative timelines allow."

Over those three weeks several steps must be taken. They include:

•  Advertising for a public hearing
• Review and recommendation by the heritage development board
• A public hearing of city council along with first and second reading of the bylaw amendments
• Third and final reading of the bylaw amendments.

The planning report says the proposed amendment would include a "site specific 'exception clause' to be inserted in Section 9 of the By-law to exempt the [Irving Oil Ltd.] Project site at 30 King Square South from the current standards in Section 9 of the By-law."

Donna Reardon is the city council appointee to the heritage development board and said it would normally take two to three months to make such amendments because the public must be given an opportunity to comment.

"If it's going to be done transparently and fairly it has to be posted, people have to be aware that it's going to change." said Reardon.