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We have a problem with crosstown traffic in Charlottetown, particularly in the busy commercial north end of the city. If I’m traveling out North River Road, once I pass Belvedere Avenue my eastbound options are limited. Since you can’t access the bypass from Lower Malpeque, it is a full 3.5 km from Belevedere to the next east-west corridor (Sherwood Rd.) that will take you all the way to Mt. Edward Rd. The only other option is to crawl through the parking lots of Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire on Buchanan Drive, through the Charlottetown Mall, and out the private road on the east side of the mall.  The owners of this private road  actually exert their rights to the property by closing the road one day a year to ensure it does not get taken into the public domain. Public access to this road could disappear at any time and then where would we be?

The City spent a considerable amount of money upgrading the Peter Pan intersection a few years ago but it is still essentially a 3-way intersection, with Spencer Drive being under-used, mainly as a secondary entrance to to the mall or the Superstore. And again, you still need to weave your way through the busy mall/cinema parking lot to get to Mt. Edward from Spencer.

With the anticipation of development on the adjacent land north of Spencer  Drive, I believe it is time for the City to start making plans to extend this road to the east, directly out to Mt. Edward Rd. It would vastly improve the flow of crosstown traffic, service future development, and improve the safety in the parking lots that are currently misused as a means of getting from one side of town to the other. I think it’s good long term infrastructure planning and also solves a number of immediate issues.

I’ve discussed this with residents from every corner of the city, with several other councillors, and city planning staff. I was surprised by the level of agreement on the issue.  A number of people have also written letters to the editor recently about this issue. See here, here, and here (there was another by Bruce Garrity, but I can’t seem to find it).

Tim Banks says he has been “looking at some hotel concepts in the US and Canada for the Charlottetown marketplace” and he has “lined up some investors”. The reaction I get when I mention this to people today seems to range from disbelief that our market can support another hotel, to suggestions that Tim is dreaming and will never go through with it. I suspect if you told Tim it’s never going to happen, it will only make it more likely to happen. That just seems to be the way he rolls.
It’s encouraging that successful companies like APM and Homburg have the confidence in our city and tourism market to continue making large investments that appear, at least to the Average Joe, risky at best. I look forward to hearing more about Tim’s hotel plan when it arrives at City Hall but I don’t think, as apparently he is hoping, a roundabout driveway design will get him any special consideration.

Larry Beasley designs cities. Modern Vancouver is his baby and he is very well respected in his field. Last Monday night, almost two hundred people attended a lecture by Mr. Beasley at McDougall Hall on the UPEI campus. He was invited by the Friends of the Farm as a way to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Charlottetown Experimental Farm.

I was happy to see so many City staff people there, but also representatives of the business community, developers, and regular citizens. I think we all gained a better understanding and respect for the importance of good urban planning; how it affects our quality of life and drives economic development.

I recorded the lecture using my phone, and although the audio quality is perfectly acceptable and Mr. Beasley’s words speak powerfully enough themselves, the real advantage of actually being there was his photo essay that seemed to sync perfectly and effortlessly with his speech. Visuals of spectacular urban vistas, public spaces and residential developments — mostly from Vancouver but mixed with his own excellent perspectives on Charlottetown — flashed across the screen and seemed to be impossibly timed to emphasize his points.

You can download my recording here (mp3, 40 mb), or read Mr. Beasley’s lecture here (pdf).

Here are just a few memorable and relevant quotes, among many:

“Every city has to have a design. A city without a design does not know where it is going, does not know how to grow.”

“You cannot leave the design of these building to chance, or you can get some pretty unpleasant results. So we carefully regulate the designs…”

“Schools are actually being closed… these kind of counter-intuitive decisions are happening, that do not help you achieve a re-populated city”

“There are simply not enough young singles, or older empty nesters to create a vibrant city … and families are flooding back downtown [Vancouver] in record numbers … And there is a spinoff benefit that we discovered: If you design a city that works well for children, it seems to work well for everyone else.”

Back in December, developer Paul Madden’s proposal for an 85,000 sq. ft. condominium and spa complex on the waterfront was rejected, mainly because the building exceeded the 36,000 sq. ft. allowed for in the Waterfront Comprehensive Development Area. Mr. Madden persevered with a cooperative approach and a lot of patience. After several design revisions Planning Board accepted the design below and Council approved it at last week’s monthly public meeting. This view is looking east from Lobster on the Wharf.

Here are alternate views from the Seaport wharf, and from the water. And here the site plan.

UPDATE (January 26): The name was corrected today.

‘This investment by Homburg has reignited the issue.’— Coun. Jeff Lantz

Having a brother who was formerly in politics, I get called ‘Jeff’ quite often. But this is the first news story to mix us up.

There is one other correction to this story. Paying cash in-lieu of physical parking spaces is not an exception to the bylaw as reported. It is an option built right into the Zoning & Development bylaw.

4.47 CASH-IN-LIEU OF PARKING SPACES

.1 Council May require or accept Cash-in-lieu of Parking Spaces in any situation where a
Development Permit has been applied for and adequate or required off-street Parking cannot be
provided or, in the opinion of Council, having considered a recommendation from the Planning
Board, is unfeasible.

There is no moratorium. I was asked to consider the idea, and I agreed to take it to my committee, but that is a routine courtesy that I extend to any councillor, not a commitment to impose a moratorium. I personally don’t think it’s necessary.

We will certainly be careful to scrutinize any future requests so we have some confidence that a drive-thru can accommodate the expected volume of traffic, but I would also remind the public not to line up in a public right-of-way. I will ask the Chief of Police to enforce this if necessary.

This isn’t a new problem, and to my knowledge there’s never been a serious incident as a result. However, I do recognize the concerns, and I want to deal with them. There is no question the line ups are creating a traffic impediment, but we can’t collectively punish every business that has, or wants, a drive-thru because of the popularity of a handful of Tim Horton’s.

I will be meeting with the Police & Bylaw Enforcement Committee later this month for the first time since becoming chair. We will decide on a course of action then. I still think a cooperative approach will result in the best overall solution.

If you were judging solely on the apparent demand for new high-end condominiums in the Charlottetown area, you would hardly know the world is in the grips of a financial crisis, a severe downturn in real estate markets, with economic recession on the horizon. Last week a developer announced plans for several 8-story glass and concrete luxury condo towers in Stratford, while almost simultaneously Charlottetown’s Planning Board was hearing from another developer who wants to build similarly highfalutin condos directly north across the harbour, behind Founders Hall. In fact, although they are different developers, both projects were designed by the same architect.

This area of the Charlottetown waterfront is a Comprehensive Development Area, or a special planning area, and because this new proposal is significantly different from the spa/hotel/condo plan that was originally approved for that site more than two years ago, the approval process must start again from the beginning.
Tomorrow night at council’s monthly public meeting we will vote to “…proceed to the public consultation phase to consider an amendment to the Waterfront Development Concept Plan…”.

Assuming this resolution passes, a public meeting on the new condo proposal will be scheduled sometime before Christmas, I would think. The developer has indicated he would like to get started on some of the early prep work this winter.

UPDATE: The public meeting is scheduled for November 26th, 7:00pm, at the Rodd Charlottetown Hotel (Georgian Room).

This Guardian editorial is at least the second news report I’ve seen that states incorrectly that the Idle Wheels property “has been rezoned”. It has not been rezoned. IRAC has ordered the City to rezone the property, but in its order, IRAC states, “there is insufficient evidence and argument at the present time to persuade the Commission that an automatic rezoning should follow in these circumstances.” In other words, it’s not rezoned until council rezones it.

I agree that residents should have been made aware of the appeal, but unfortunately most of council — including the councillor who represents the area — was not even aware of the appeal until the decision was reported in the media. Consequently, we could not notify residents of something we ourselves did not know. This also caused us to miss the window to appeal the decision, but we are pursuing other avenues because council feels it is not entirely appropriate for an appointed commission to be ordering elected officials to make planning decisions, particularly when the order clearly states “that the City did follow all the procedures required in its Bylaw.“

The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission has ordered the City to overturn a decision last February to deny a rezoning application. The CBC reports that current occupants now fear forced removal from the property. The crux of the IRAC’s decision is a ‘Future Land Use’ map in the City’s official plan showing this property under the proposed zoning.

I won’t quibble with the decision, but it does remind Council that even as elected officials we don’t necessarily have the last word on planning decisions.  IRAC did, however, make the order to rezone “subject to a development agreement” between the City and the developer which leaves some room for Council to deal with the concerns of residents in the area before a building permit is issued.

Well known local developer, APM president Tim Banks, weighs in on his blog regarding the rezoning application for the property at Upton Road and Trans-Canada Hwy:

“I tried to go commercial with this site but once I heard the opposition from the Community I knew it was time to withdraw our application and that is exactly what we did. Steve may have to do the same if he wants customers?” 

To celebrate Jane Jacobs Day, May 4th 2008, you are invited to participate in Jane’s Walk 2008, hosted by Catherine Hennessey as she tells the stories of the places and people of her downtown neighbourhood. Jane’s Walk is a series of free neighbourhood walking tours given by residents who care passionately about where they live, work and play.

Read more about Jane’s Walk.

The first time I realized urban planning was a serious discipline was more than twenty years ago when I was visiting friends in Toronto who were neighbours of Jacobs. I was 16, and I was a guest of my friends at Jane’s 70th birthday party in her home across the street on Albany Avenue in the Annex. I remember being very surprised that someone could be so famous for “thinking about cities”, but at the time I don’t think I had a clue what was involved in urban planning. Jane’s Walks are a great way to honour her legacy and promote her ideas for creating vital, livable cities.

I sent an email to all members of council and some City staff tonight, with a link to an article from another municipality. I highlighted my favourite line:

“‘When it comes down to making choices between cars and people, we invariably choose cars. This is outdated and marks us for the civic dinosaur that we are.’

“Can you tell I’m not very excited about building a new parking garage?”

No responses yet.

UPDATE, day later: Received supportive responses from one staff member and one councillor.