Saint John goes ahead with plan to cut zoning red tape for developers

A plan to reduce the red tape developers face is moving forward as part of Saint John's efforts to tackle its housing shortage.

Council voted Monday night to change how the zoning bylaw is implemented, primarily for lots zoned for low-rise developments.  

Mayor Donna Reardon and Pankaj Nalavde, the community planning and housing director, called the reforms a positive step in addressing the city's housing needs.

Saint John has 11 residential zones, which allow different types of housing, such as single units or two-unit buildings. The changes combine four of the zones into one to provide more flexibility for developers.

"There are a lot of folks who want to develop more than one unit on their lot, and this is a big win because it no longer requires them to go through rezoning," Nalavde said.

Previously, detached houses, semi-detached houses and low-rise townhouses, for example, fell under separate zones, often restricting what property owners could do on a lot without having to submit a rezoning application.

The new zoning changes, which passed third reading at council, bring about a comprehensive low-rise residential zone. 

"It creates more opportunity for homeowners to participate in growing that economy and creating more housing options on their lots," Nalavde said. 

The changes, a staff report says, are aimed at expanding housing options without drastically changing existing neighbourhoods. The report says the result will be a reduction in costly rezoning applications for developers and a quicker approval process. 

Reardon praised this direction, saying it will encourage more development through less red tape.

"The other thing that it does is it takes all of the resources and staff time that you have to create all of that paperwork to bring those things to the council table..it gets rid of all of that for those limited zones," she said.

Zoning reform is part of an action plan required under the federal Housing Accelerator Fund. When it joined the program a year ago, Saint John needed to provide housing growth targets and other goals, along with strategies to meet them. 

Nalavde said reducing regulatory barriers was one of the easier ways to unlock money from the fund.

"There are other programs in the pipelines that look at financing or supporting improvements to infrastructure and that cost … you want to make sure that the housing market is able to benefit from that. So there is a bit of a choreography between these various initiatives."

The reforms also pave the way for potential affordable housing options for younger people who can't afford single-detached homes, Nalavde said.