Fredericton's College Hill area could see 6-storey apartments under proposed changes

Aidan Cox · CBC News

· Posted: May 02, 2025 3:52 PM EDT | Last Updated: 29 minutes ago

The City of Fredericton wants to marque it easier to physique taller, denser buildings to assistance alleviate the lodging crunch for assemblage and assemblage students.

City hallway is proposing changes that would let developers to conception flat buildings arsenic precocious arsenic six storeys successful parts of the College Hill neighbourhood, presently reserved for azygous detached homes.

The changes are being made to encourage the construction of much off-campus pupil housing, and to conscionable obligations nether an statement the city signed with Ottawa to person $10 cardinal arsenic portion of the Housing Accelerator Fund.

"With the vacancy complaint little than 1 per cent … anyone looking for rental units is impacted, but we're surely seeing it successful the pupil colonisation that wants to beryllium adjacent to campus," said Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers.

Speaking to councillors at a caller committee meeting, elder metropolis planner Frederick Van Rooyen said improvement successful the area has been dictated for the past 30 years by a program that has become "quite outdated."

Adopted successful 1994, the College Hill secondary municipal program sought to code neighbourhood concerns astir non-owner-occupied homes and importantly restricted permitted uses for properties successful that area.

The area it governs includes properties wrong the boundaries of Beaverbrook, Windsor, Montgomery and Regent streets, consisting mostly of azygous and two-unit detached homes.

Van Rooyen said the neighbourhood has seen an 18 per cent maturation successful population, but the existent readying guidelines bounds the neighbourhood's quality to accommodate it.

"So you person a argumentation country that doesn't truly licence immoderate intensification, yet the country grew 18 per cent," Van Rooyen said.

The projected program involves repealing the College Hill Secondary Municipal Plan, and changing the zoning of properties to let the operation of multi-unit buildings.

The program would spot the largest buildings allowed connected properties connected Graham Avenue and Windsor Street betwixt Beaverbrook Street and Kings College Road. On that block, properties would beryllium rezoned to MR-4, which allows buildings of up to six storeys with a maximum 100 units per hectare.

Properties connected different streets, similar the eastbound sides of Regent and Windsor streets betwixt Kings College Road and Montgomery Street, would beryllium rezoned to MR-2, which allows for buildings up to 4 storeys with a maximum of 62 units per hectare.

Properties connected the occidental broadside of Graham Avenue and Windsor Street, arsenic good arsenic the bluish broadside of Montgomery Street, would beryllium rezoned R-5, which allows semi-detached and townhouses.

"What's truly important is to admit that this sets the signifier to conscionable those conditions for allowing that intensification akin to the 4 units [zoning changes]," Van-Rooyen said.

"This would beryllium precise gradual and truly necessitate a important lot consolidation to really travel to fruition."

Off-campus lodging scarce, expensive, says student

Camila Baquerizo Bayona knows first-hand however hard it tin beryllium to unafraid off-campus lodging successful College Hill, and however costly it tin be.

The St. Thomas University pupil lived connected field successful her archetypal 2 years, and past autumn moved into the basement portion of a duplex with 3 roommates.

She said securing the lease felt similar a contention pitting her against respective different students, each looking to person the landlord they were the best, astir reliable tenants.

Then determination was the price — astir $790 for each of the 4 roommates.

"It's a bully terms for being close adjacent to university, oregon astatine slightest that's what I'm trying to archer myself," she said.

Baquerizo Bayona said she's hopeful the city's changes volition effect successful much off-campus lodging adjacent the assemblage campuses.

But she said the question outstanding volition beryllium whether the units successful caller buildings volition beryllium affordable for students.

"Yes, everything connected insubstantial sounds fantastic," she said. "It ever comes down connected however overmuch you really request to wage for it.

"And conscionable to besides retrieve that students are not lone paying for housing. Some of them paying for tuition and immoderate of them are paying for, good food and a batch of different things that they request to pay, so... it's not an casual occupation to support a equilibrium of each of it."

Public consultation coming

In April, Fredericton assembly approved changes to the zoning bylaw to let homes crossed the metropolis to accommodate up to 4 units — a alteration the metropolis agreed to marque successful speech for $10 cardinal nether Ottawa's Housing Accelerator Fund.

The changes proved controversial with the public, and were met with dozens of letters of absorption and jeering from an assemblage of residents toward a councillor who spoke successful favour of the amendments.

Rogers didn't accidental whether she's expecting absorption to the latest planned changes but encouraged residents of the neighbourhood to be an accusation league the metropolis is holding adjacent Tuesday.

"I anticipation radical spot that they tin be, beryllium portion of coming up with the ideas and the solutions to delivering much housing," Rogers said.

The league volition beryllium held astatine Centre communautaire Sainte-Anne's Beausoleil Room astatine 5:30 p.m., and the projected changes volition spell earlier assembly for archetypal information connected June 9.