Moncton council opts to go against staff, anti-sprawl policy for proposed subdivisions

Moncton councillors brushed off staff recommendations and policy against sprawl Tuesday as they voted to allow proposed subdivisions along Elmwood Drive to move ahead.

Two back-to-back votes were on plans from separate developers that envision about 1,000 new housing units and a private school near Irishtown Nature Park.

Neither vote granted final approval for the projects but offered a sign that councillors may grant approval in the future.

Staff recommended denying both plans, saying they violate the municipal plan and a community emissions reduction plan adopted by council last month.

"I want development today," Coun. Shawn Crossman, who represents the area, said before voting in favour of the plans. "Developers need to spend their money today, not 20 years down the road."

He said the city has spent decades hoping for development in an area called the Vision Lands, and not enough effort in areas outside the Trans-Canada Highway that rings the city.

The first proposal from ELCE Developments Inc. calls for a mixed-use development called Eastgate Village with 956 residential units, a private school, daycare and a market. It's proposed on 144.6 acres of mostly forested land west of Elmwood.

A separate plan by landowner Harry Wynberg Jr. calls for an unspecified number of houses on 39 acres on the east side of Elmwood near Castleton Drive.

Both proposals require the city to expand its urban boundary, an area inside municipal limits serviced by water and sewer lines. Areas outside cannot connect to city water and sewer systems. The boundary set in the municipal plan is meant to discourage sprawl.

Bill Budd, the city's director of planning and development, repeatedly described the plans as "premature." He said a transportation study of the Elmwood corridor about to begin and a city-wide land-use plan set to be completed next year.

Budd said so far the land-use study suggests there is enough land within the existing urban boundary for 16,100 new housing units expected to be needed to meet population demand over 25 years.

A sewer line along Elmwood would need to be upgraded to support any more than 100 homes, council was told. Budd also said the city is seeking legal input on how the plan calls to flow stormwater runoff through ditches on private property.

Budd said the city has spent millions on infrastructure to service areas within the boundary yet to be fully developed. 

"If you keep opening up the urban boundary, you'll never complete your neighbourhoods," Budd said.