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St. John’s shoots down rescinding motion, controversial Atlantic Place hotel to be built
A controversial hotel project that has barely made it through multiple votes at St. John’s city hall has survived a rare notice of motion to rescind the final approval given last month.The proposed Park Hotel development, atop the Atlantic Place parking garage, in dowtown St. John’s. (Sonco Group)A controversial hotel project that has barely made…
A controversial hotel project that has barely made it through multiple votes at St. John's city hall has survived a rare notice of motion to rescind the final approval given last month.
A controversial hotel project that has barely made it through multiple votes at St. John's city hall has survived a rare notice of motion to rescind the final approval given last month.
On Monday evening, Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O'Leary brought forth a motion of motion to try to stop a project that had been approved.
It was shot down by an overwhelming 10 to 1 vote.
“It was a bit disheartening,” she said.
The hotel proposal first surfaced in 2013 and has been the centre of controversy ever since.
Twice this year it has squeaked through city hall approval by a vote of 6 – 5.
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Prompted by a public petition, O'Leary, who has repeatedly voted against the project, made the rare move of trying to rescind a council decision.
“I was certainly hopeful that some of our council members, who really value the heritage district in the downtown, would have changed their minds on the vote,” O'Leary said over the phone after the meeting.
“However, I was the only one standing for that particular decision.”
Councillor Maggie Burton has been against the proposed project since arriving on city council in 2017.
Despite her objections to the 108-room hotel, rescinding the decision wasn't something she could stand for.
“I don't approval of this development at all…and I think council was wrong to approve it,” she said during the debate around the motion.
“There are real legal problems with this motion. Some of them have financial implications but it's not just about the money.”
Burton went further in her remarks and said “there are other implications as well when it comes to city hall as an institution.”
The councillor-at-large was impressed with the public mobilizing and garnering more than 6,600 signatures on a petition.
Her fear with rescinding the decision, aside for the legal aspect, would be that it could affect every other development going forward.
“I think developers would be right to be spooked if we started rescinding approvals without newer information arising that we didn't have when we made our decision,” said Burton.
“I don't believe there is any new information.”
She added that she doesn't want this to discourage people from speaking out about the decisions made by council.
The online petition states that there wasn't enough pubic consolation on the project.
Some felt that Snowmegaddon and the COVID-19 global pandemic affected people's ability to speak out against the controversial hotel.
A public meeting was held on Dec. 11/2019 and then a commissioner hearing on March 11 – both falling outside the major events in 2020.
Still, the deputy mayor believes both impacted the turn out.
“People were consumed with survival and a lot of people missed the boat on engaging on this very, very big decision.”
Councillor Hope Jamieson disagrees.
The representative for Ward 2 said she's been against the project every step of the way but she feels people had time to have their say.
“[The process] went through all the proper channels. We received 137 pages of written submissions in the final report; so it isn't that the public's opinion wasn't heard,” Jamieson said.
- I don't like the Atlantic Place hotel proposal, but I need to tell you how council made its decision
Jamieson also pointed out that among the 6,600 signatures on the petition only 2,500 live in St. John's.
“I fear that [rescinding the decision] calls into question any future decision made by council on good things,” she said.
With the rescinding notice of motion voted down the controversial hotel will move ahead.
O'Leary said adding a hotel on top of the current building will only make things worse.
“We all know that Atlantic Place has been an abomination for a very long and this, in my opinion, will only add to it.”
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
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