St. John's, Newfoundland is a city that ferociously holds on to it's history. Its citizens, indeed many Newfoundlanders, will come out in force to defend the aesthetic value of their town. The row house; the crazy colours, the view of the ocean; all this is part of the "look" that so many people defend when a new development project comes and tries to add something to the downtown area.
Enter the controversy.
Fortis, a real-estate holding company that was established and has its head office in St. John's, wants to update one building (seen here) and build a new building next to it (this section, from the school of dance back to the current Fortis building). This is where it gets complicated. People don't want taller buildings in that area, further cutting off the view of the harbour. They also don't want the current buildings, many of which have had businesses operating out of them for decades, demolished. Many commentators say that Fortis simply CANNOT build there due to zoning regulations which cap the height of a building at four stories. Anyone who has been downtown knows that this rule is garbage. If you look across the street from the current Fortis building you'll notice a fairly tall 12+ story building. Other criticisms involve ruining the current viewscape and adding eyesores to an increasingly corporate downtown core.
The issue I'm most concerned about in this case is how St. John's is supposed to allow growth while still fostering culture. Many people will cite development projects in other cities (Halifax for example) that have ruined a vibrant downtown community by forcing out smaller character adding retail and restaurant locations. This is a valid criticism and if the Fortis expansion goes ahead the stores involved may have nowhere to go. The city of St. John's has already doomed many interesting stores through hamfisted city-works projects that destroy foot traffic in many areas. On the other hand there are many eyesores in downtown St. John's that have been rotting for decades and will never function again without massive renovations.
I'm not sure what's worse. St. John's stagnating or St. John's losing itself through development.
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3 comments:
I feel the same way about development in general, I think it should be encouraged and I don't want to see St. John's stagnate. I really think that downtown needs to be built up and that we need to stop the urban sprawl and bus-unfriendliness that is happening so quickly. Everyone's focuses on downtown and they don't see how we're ruining the rest of the city.
But I don't like Fortis' proposal. That particular location of downtown is one of the worst places to put an ugly tall building (not all tall buildings are ugly, this one isn't as bad as the TD building, but it could certainly be nicer). Why build there when there are already eyesores all over downtown that need to be torn down and rebuilt? Why put it front and center on Water Street? The people working there would have a spectacular view to be sure, which I guess is why that's why they want it there (also they already own that property, but don't they own other property as well?)
Well said @ Mel+Colin
Please don't let St. John's get ugly while I'm gone :\
It's definitely a contentious issue. The good news is that there are options for development that don't include replacing our small patch of heritage area with glass and steel.
See this proposal for the woolworths location in a very non-heritage looking part of downtown.
It's also in a great location for traffic flow (near the four-lane part of water street and a major intersection that is the entrance to downtown, pretty much).
Dave
p.s. great blog name :)
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