Editorial: Moncton housing creation crucial

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Moncton city council had a marathon session Monday on four residential zoning issues that signal important changes for new housing and streamlining the approval process. It’s essential.

Most significant perhaps were a few objections from Sunny Brae residents to a proposed change to streamline zoning bylaw red tape, but only because objectors are unlikely to prevail. There’s an affordable housing crisis across Canada, including in rapidly growing Moncton. The city is receiving $15 million from the federal housing accelerator fund to help. It means zoning red tape must be streamlined and the process sped up. That’s long overdue. The tendency of delaying many good projects for years must end. Legitimate concerns can and do get addressed. Public hearings will continue. But Moncton is changing and must continue to.

Meanwhile, the city Monday approved a rezoning to allow a mixed residential development to contain 150 new units on land on the Salisbury Road. Council voted approval after reaching an agreement with the developer to improve a buffer for existing properties. That’s fair.

With a public hearing scheduled for Feb. 20 – part of the process – council also voted in favour of rezoning for an 18-storey high-rise next to St. Bernard’s Church on Botsford Street with an impressive plan. It’s 63 metres or 206 feet high, two storeys shorter than Assumption Place. This and similar projects will revive our core.

Much was made over a proposal being created for McLaughlin Drive but not submitted yet. It’d create 512 housing units and merits co-operation. We need 1,000 new units a year.