Stratford townhouse proposal would be destructive to wetland, nearby residents warn

Some residents of Stratford are calling on the P.E.I. town's council to postpone a vote on a rezoning application, fearing it will destroy a wetland in their neighbourhood.

The developer, R&D Builders, has applied to the town to rezone an area of the Forest Trails subdivision from medium to high density to allow the general contractor to build 32 stacked townhouses, along with two apartment buildings with a total of 78 units just across the street. 

Residents who opposed the project say the development would quadruple the area's housing density, as well as being partially built on protected wetlands. 

"There is a… development plan signed by Stratford that protected all of this area and there was to be no disturbance acceptable," said Bonnie Gray, who lives on Dr. John Knox Way, across from the proposed development.  

"You couldn't build a birdhouse on this land — and now they want to put 32 townhomes here."

CBC News reached out to R&D Builders, but the company declined to comment on the issue. 

Stratford held a public hearing on the rezoning application last October, during which councillors heard significant objections to the proposal. 

Given the pushback, the residents who took part thought Stratford's planning committee would recommend against the proposal, but that wasn't the case. 

In May, the homeowners were told the committee had supported the developer's rezoning request, and council had already passed the plan at the first reading stage. Council will decide whether to grant final approval of the project at its regular meeting Wednesday night. 

According to the minutes of the June 2 planning committee meeting, R&D Builders hired the private company Fundy Engineering to assess the wetland area in November of last year. 

The residents say the results of that survey revised the wetland's boundaries. They also took issue with the timing of the company's assessment.

"It was done in the winter when you cannot accurately assess a wetland," Gray said. "Why the Town of Stratford would accept that as a revised boundary — I don't understand why they would even consider it." 

In a letter to Fundy Engineering and the developer dated Jan. 31, a land management manager with the provincial Environment Department said two of the four lots on the property could be developed without affecting the wetland. 

"Right now, it looks like you would be able to develop Lot 4 and possibly Lot 3 without impacting the wetland identified. There may be more wetland on Lot 2 that would be impacted by development, which may require compensation. However, this cannot be determined until spring," the letter states.