After two hours of hearing opposition from neighbours, city council ultimately backed a proposal to spread multi-family homes through a larger area of a University Heights neighbourhood.
The 7-1 vote approved third reading of a rezoning application affecting a 2.43-hectare piece of land along Tyner Boulevard where the developer, Infinity Properties, is proposing to provide a mix of single-family and two-, three- and four-unit homes.
Coun. Albert Koehler voted against the application and Coun. Murry Krause was absent.
The public hearing and subsequent vote was postponed from March 2, after council proposed the nearly month-long break for neighbours to work out their issues.
But despite updating a 2009 traffic impact study, changing the proposed layout of Rowe Street so that it functions as a crescent linking to University Heights Drive instead of connecting to the adjacent property owned by University Mountain View Estates and volunteering to register a covenant to limit the number of units, neighbours still had plenty to say about Infinity's application.
In a letter to council, Diana Matheson said she was against the proposal due to changes already made to the area's landscape and that the amount of units would lower the property values of the homes already established.
"This developer has proven lack of moral accountability in continuously changing covenant rules," Matheson wrote. "As a lifetime resident of Prince George, I ask that you please deny this rezoning application and hold these property developers to a higher level of accountability. They divvy up their land, sell it to the highest bidder and then they are gone."
Matheson's argument was reflected by nearly all the residents who spoke Monday night in opposition to the plan, with many citing a change in course from what they were told when they purchased their homes to what is now on the table for the subdivision.
Unfortunately, that's not something in which the city can play a role, said Coun. Jillian Merrick.
"There's not a lot of capacity within council to legislate trust," Merrick said.
Prior practices and following the bare minimum of notification requirements also fosters mistrust, said Coun. Brian Skakun.
"In my opinion as the process started I think to a degree the developer blew it because these people invested in this area - there was going to be a school, then it went to a strata development and so people weren't happy with that. People talked about coming home to all the trees being knocked down," Skakun said.
Members of council who supported the application said they appreciated the residents' concerns regarding multi-family homes like duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes having a negative impact on their property values and the fear over creating, as one resident put it, "a ghetto" amongst their single-family homes, but didn't necessarily agree.
There's a market for first-time buyers, particularly professional couples with no children, said Coun. Terri McConnachie.
"Not to mention on the other end of the spectrum is my age group, where some time in the near future I need to find someplace between my home and The Home," McConnachie said. "And something like this would be something very much that I would find attractive, that's still in a well-cared for neighbourhood where the values are kept up and that has an emphasis on making sure that the rules are followed."
Having a variety of housing options also falls within the city's broader plan.
"There are many, many groups in the city that are telling us that smaller units for seniors and more (higher-density) housing is the way the city has to go and I'm looking at the broader community long-term vision and I appreciate there's going to be many road bumps in there," said Merrick.
Ultimately with a restrictive covenant in place, no more than 100 units can be built in the rezoned property. Without the rezoning 101 units would be allowed, but, according to Infinity Properties' development manager Quentin Boulton, expanding the area where the multi-family units are permitted makes it less dense.
But there were also concerns expressed regarding traffic patterns, lighting along Tyner Boulevard and the clear-cutting of trees to create a berm.
The removal of the trees was something Mayor Lyn Hall said he had a major problem with.
"It's a blight on that hillside. When I first saw it I just about drove off the road. I'm not impressed by it," Hall said. "Something could have been done and I say to council if there's an opportunity to restrict that kind of thing, then we should be doing it."
In addition to directing staff to withhold final reading of the rezoning bylaw until covenants are registered - to limit development on the property to 25 units per hectare (for a maximum of 100) and that there would no more than four units allowed in a building - council will also be getting a report back on a deceleration lane on Tyner Boulevard to address safety issues for those turning into the subdivision.
