Moncton Planning Committee Denies Skipper Jacks’ Expansion Proposal
MONCTON – The Moncton Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) has recommended that the City Council not support a zoning proposal that would see Skipper Jacks Restaurant expand its building and parking lot onto an adjacent green space.
The plan, filed by JR Daigle Engineering, proposes to re-designate a portion of land at 211 Mapleton Road from community use to mixed-use centres and corridors in the municipal plan. The amendment would then allow the property to be rezoned from community use zone and open space and conservation zone to suburban commercial.
In addition to an expansion of the parking lot, the development would add 240 square feet on the restaurant’s west side, and 200 square feet on the north side. To do so, it was proposed that a culvert be put through Rabbit Brook, and then a parking lot can be paved over it.
When the plan was introduced to the city council in July, councillors expressed concerns about the project’s impact on the Rabbit Brook Trail, which runs through the property. Work on the proposal also requires approvals from the federal and provincial governments.
The PAC had an option to allow the rezoning with conditions set out by council in 2018, which would resolve long-standing land matters between the city and the landowners, but is not in line with municipal plan policies.
The PAC’s decision to deny the rezoning means the land issue remains unresolved, though it is in line with municipal plan policies that include watercourse protection, and an objective of integrating natural features in the community.
The restaurant’s expansion plans had started back in 2007 and a series of legal back-and-forth followed.
The city owes the owner parking space after expropriating six-to-eight spots in 2008, for the eventual expansion of Mapleton road. The city built the trail in 2016.
The landowners were also supposed to build a parkette by 2012 after they purchased the land. However, that didn’t happen, so they owe the city money. In July, city planner Bill Budd says they would have to reimburse the city for the cost of developing the trail.
“As part of the process, the landowner would have to pay the city $30,000 which would have covered the city’s cost of building the trail and also release the city of obligation to provide replacement parking,” he said at the time.
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