Richmond Street Apartments
A Charlottetown developer says a flight to the core is behind his desire to build an apartment on Richmond Street in Charlottetown.
Tim Banks made a presentation before city council at a public meeting in Charlottetown on Tuesday night, the kind of meeting that gives the public a chance to ask questions.
There were no questions from the public on any of the issues the meeting centered on.
Banks is looking for a site-specific amendment to the zoning bylaw that would enable him to build a four-storey, 23-unit apartment building at 55 and 59 Richmond St.
Right now, he’s allowed to go three storeys, to 40 feet with a 13-foot ceiling on the first floor.
He’s proposing to go to four floors, remain with the 40-foot height requirement but wants to reduce the first floor height from 13 feet to 9.5 feet.
“Right now, there is a new trend that has been happening in urban centres. I call it flight to the core,’’ Banks said. “If you look recently at the demographics in Prince Edward Island census you’ll see that there are a lot of people moving into urban centres.’’
Banks’ proposed apartment building would be built right next door to the larger Richmond Place. His original request was for a side yard setback from six feet to about 0.6 feet which would have meant the outdoor decks of some of the neighhours would have been mighty close. Banks has pulled the side yard setback off the table.
Part of Banks’ presentation involved examples of tall buildings south of Euston Street, the area the city commonly refers to as the 500 Lot area, to indicate that height is not a detriment to progress and that it can be harmonious with the neighbourhood.
