Irving withdraws request to rezone Wolastoq Park for pulp mill parking lot

Irving Pulp & Paper in Saint John has withdrawn its application to rezone a third of nearby Wolastoq Park for a 500-stall parking lot. 

The company announced its decision Friday afternoon, a day after council decided it would be willing to approve only a temporary rezoning. 

"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 Friday.

"We repeatedly and clearly communicated a temporary approval is not at all viable." 

The pulp mill is part of J .D. Irving Ltd., which bought the parkland property after the closure of the Centracare psychiatric hospital. It was rezoned as parkland, but now the company says it needs it for a parking lot for employees during a $1.1 billion upgrade of the mill. 

Shortly after Irving's announcement Friday, Mayor Donna Reardon told CBC News that council tried to do the right thing when it chose to back a possible compromise after residents and city staff opposed the rezoning.

"We tried to find a path forward last night that we could live with as a council," Reardon said. "And if that doesn't suit them, that's certainly their prerogative to respond to it the way that they feel is the best for them."

A special council meeting Thursday night was devoted to the Irving proposal. 

Andy Carson, the company's government relations director, told council a temporary lot was not acceptable. He said the mill would still need the lot for hundreds of workers who will be needed for maintenance work in the years after the upgrade.

But council chose an option presented by city staff that would see the land rezoned with a five-year sunset clause, after which the property would revert to parkland.

After Irving withdrew its request, Reardon said council needs to look at proposals through a larger lens than the applicant and prioritize the whole city. 

"And so that's what we are trying to navigate — that whole scope as we go forward — and we felt that that was the best scope for not only JDI but for the city as well. We felt that that was a five-year opportunity for them." Reardon said. 

She said she hopes industry in the city and council can continue working together toward shared goals.

"We need to set some expectations of what a social licence [for industry] to operate is for starters," she said.