Moncton council has voted 7-3 in support of rezoning land in the north end to make way for a controversial subdivision.
The vote for the bylaw change came Monday after the developer made changes to the original plan.
The development is in the Ryan Street and Twin Oaks Drive area, near where a new middle school will be built.
If these planning issues come up in your neighbourhood, you have to do it yourself. The planning advisory committee is not going to look out for you.- Andrew MacKinnon, resident
Mountain Way Developments wants to build 473 residential housing units, a mix of single-family homes, semi-detached homes, apartments and townhouses.
Construction could begin later this year.
At a public hearing on Feb. 20, more than a dozen residents voiced their concerns or showed support.
Enid Egers collected 133 names on a petition against the rezoning, citing concerns the subdivision would increase traffic and lower property values.
Residents were also upset the developer planned to build on a 6.2-acre bog in the area that was once a protected wetland. Part of the proposed plan now includes a naturalized storm-water retention pond.
Since the public hearing, Mountain Way Developments has made changes to its plans, and the city is placing 16 conditions on the rezoning approval, which include increasing buffer areas between existing homes and any development, restricting apartment buildings to three floors and townhouses to 1½ storeys.
Julien Daigle of J.R. Daigle Engineering Ltd., a firm working with the developer, was pleased.
"We're happy of course" Daigle said.
Jean Robert Daigle, also with the engineering firm, said he hopes most of the residents are satisfied with the changes.
But Andrew MacKinnon, who lives on Teaberry Avenue, and helped spearhead opposition to the subdivision, isn't satisfied.
"If the residents of Ryan and Teaberry hadn't organized the first time this came up, we wouldn't have things like, you know, the 12 or 15 requirements that were put in there, the increase in the buffer behind our own properties," MacKinnon said.
"So it's really up to residents of Moncton to look after themselves because this council and the advisory committee isn't doing it."
MacKinnon said he's sorry to see the bog go, and he urged other residents facing rezoning in their areas to be proactive.
"Foundationally, I think there's a bigger message to residents of Moncton and that's if these planning issues come up in your neighbourhood you have to do it yourself." he said. "The planning advisory committee is not going to look out for you
Councillors Rob McKee, Bryan Butler and Paul Pellerin voted against the proposal. Coun. Shawn Crossman was away.
The subdivision will be adjacent to a new $26.5-million middle school, which will be built off Maplehurst Drive, between Teaberry Avenue and Windcrest Street, and will accommodate 700 students.
The province has said the school, which is projected to open in the fall of 2019, is "expected to address projected population growth in the area."
Mayor Dawn Arnold says council has received "feedback" about the number of rezoning requests in the fast growing neighbourhood.
"Schools, particularly elementary schools are game changers nothing drives development more than elementary schools so that has been a huge factor in the need to do some of these rezonings." Arnold said.
"Our goal as a city right now is to create density within our serviceable boundaries so this definitely checks that box."