J.D. Irving, Limited has withdrawn its application to rezone part of Saint John’s Wolastoq Park for a 500-space parking lot.
Friday’s announcement came one day after councillors voted 6-5 to support a five-year rezoning rather than a permanent one.
“Saint John Common Council and city staff are placing unreasonable conditions on our ask to rezone our land, effectively denying our application,” the company said in a statement. “We repeatedly and clearly communicated a temporary approval is not at all viable.”
“In the long-term, we still require parking and will reapply for a rezoning at some point in the future. In the meantime, we are forced to proceed with a less efficient, temporary option both for the workers and the company.”
Latest public hearing
Council held a second public hearing on Thursday night to discuss the company’s amended application for the parking lot, which would take up 30 per cent of the park.
J.D. Irving said the gravel parking lot is needed to support a $1.1-billion expansion of its pulp and paper mill across the street, dubbed NextGen.
During a public hearing in February that spanned two meetings, several residents raised concerns ranging from a loss of park space to increased traffic through an already busy Simms Corner.
Council voted to refer the application to the city’s CAO so further discussion could take place between municipal staff and the proponent.
RELATED: Saint John sends Wolastoq Park proposal back to staff
That led to the company bringing forward its amended application, which includes an additional $250,000 for upgrades at Dominion Park and $250,000 to help extend Harbour Passage.
J.D. Irving said that is in addition to the $3.9 million in upgrades it has proposed for Wolastoq Park, including a new pedestrian bridge across Bridge Road and a one-kilometre trail around the park.
Permanent parking lot needed: J.D. Irving
“We’ve attempted to be clear through this process that we need this parking lot on a permanent basis going forward,” Andy Carson, J.D. Irving’s government relations director, told council.
“While there’s an important need around NextGen, there is an ongoing need going forward based on changes within the mill site.”
That includes during peak maintenance shutdowns, according to Carson, when as many as 1,300 people could be on the site for several weeks at a time.
Six people spoke against the updated application at Thursday’s meeting, including resident Sara Stashick, who described it as “effectively a slap in the face” to the community.
“The standard for a megaproject in North America for a community benefit offering is in a range of one to four per cent of the value of the megaproject. That means that the community benefit offering to Saint John should have started at $11 million,” said Stashick.
Bryan Wilson, a resident of the city’s lower west side, agreed that the community benefit offering put forward by J.D. Irving should be considerably higher.
A number of people also attended Thursday’s meeting to speak in favour of the project, including James Irving, the co-CEO of J.D. Irving, who urged council to approve the application.
“It’s unfortunate that we’ve come to sort of an uncomfortable situation on this project because I don’t like to have any tension with the city,” said Irving. “As far as I’m concerned, I’d like to take the temperature down on this.”
Staff recommend denying application
City staff gave council four options to consider and recommended that they deny the application, saying it goes against the city’s municipal plan.
Other options included a temporary parking lot for up to five years — the one supported by council — and a permanent paved lot with landscaping.
Both of those also include a condition that J.D. Irving may have to help pay for future Simms Corner upgrades — something the company said it would not agree to.
However, Irving said he and his team would work with the city to help secure government funding to “try and solve this problem of Simms Corner.”
Wolastoq Park is on the former site of the Centracare mental health facility, which was closed in 1998 after 145 years of operation.
The site was later purchased by J.D. Irving and rehabilitated into park space in 2004, but vice-president Mark Mosher said it was never meant for permanent park use.
Mosher previously told council that the company agreed to convert it into green space until a “suitable economic condition” came forward.
Some councillors oppose temporary parking lot
Coun. Brent Harris, who unsuccessfully pushed to have J.D. Irving’s community benefit increased to $2 million from $500,000, said it does not make sense to go with a temporary parking lot.
“I don’t understand putting a motion on the floor for an option that the applicant has already rejected, and Mr. Irving himself has declared as much,” said Harris.
“Now, maybe the minds will change, but that comes with the risk that you get nothing, and I would much rather trade privately-held park for publicly-improved park any day, every day.”
The company would have the option to come back to council and ask for an extension to keep the parking lot in place for longer than five years.
Coun. Gary Sullivan said if that were the case, he would need to see more community benefits from J.D. Irving.
“Let’s get the parking lot done so that we can get into NextGen and continue the conversation,” he added.
