Saint John planning committee approves growth and revitalization plan for north end

Saint John unveiled the final draft of its long-term plan to bring more housing, business and recreation possibilities to one of the oldest parts of the city.

City staff presented the "north end neighbourhood plan" to Saint John’s planning advisory committee, which gave the 25-year growth strategy the green light at a Tuesday night meeting.

The city’s north end is part of Ward 2. The plan splits it into seven zones, including Douglas and Lansdowne avenues, Main Street, the Crescent Valley neighbourhood, and others.

“When directed to start the north end planning process by council, staff approached it with some key points of focus,” said senior planner Sam Burns. 

“Staff looked for growth opportunities and housing … while also prioritizing and increasing the city's tax base. Additionally, the planning process looked to focus on opportunities for beautification and revitalization, building upon and improving green space and amenities.” 

The plan has been in the works since 2024.

The north end has long been one of the more impoverished areas of Saint John. In 2021, Human Development Council data said the ward’s median after tax household income was below the municipal, provincial and national averages. 

It's also known for several vacant lots and buildings. The lots are specifically being targeted for mixed-income housing development.

The city held a number of open houses, including some last summer and some within the last month. The city hired a planning consulting firm — Fotenn Consulting — to help with policy and community engagement sessions.

While the plan’s scope is broad, one of its biggest priorities is housing. According to the staff report submitted to the committee, the land the city identified as “vacant or underutilized” have the capacity for 6000 to 11,800 housing units.

To accommodate this scale of potential housing development, the plan includes a municipal plan change where north end areas currently designated as “Stable Area Residential” will be “evolved” to a range of low, medium and high density and mixed-residential areas. 

This is to bring it in line with residential zoning reforms introduced last year.

The change would allow multi-unit housing forms of roughly 35 to as many as 60 units per net hectare with buildings as tall as six storeys. Building sizes would depend on area designation.

Jaime Posen, a community planner with Fotenn, said that doesn’t mean thousands of units are coming in the immediate future, or even necessarily in the next 20 years.