Charlottetown's draft official plan looks up, rather than out

The City of Charlottetown is opening discussions this week on the draft of a new official plan, which will eventually outline how P.E.I.'s capital will grow and develop over the next 20 years. 

This will be Charlottetown's first crack at an official plan since 1999.

The 200-page document was released last week, and the city has scheduled four meetings this week so that residents can offer feedback.

"This is nowhere near a finished document, because it's so important for us to hear from the residents, [and] the business and development community," Deputy Mayor Alanna Jankov said.

The plan is broad-reaching not only in time but also in its scope, laying out plans to manage what is expected to be continuing rapid population growth while at the same time preparing for the impacts of climate change and protecting the local environment.

Jankov says it will resemble "a road map for how Charlottetown will grow and develop over the next 20 years…

"This is like the guiding light." 

With the city and the province dealing with a housing crisis now in its fifth year, one of the biggest challenges facing Charlottetown is creating housing. Planners say the solution is building up, not out.

P.E.I. developers have complained that it's hard to build high-density housing on the Island because not enough land is zoned for it. The draft plan identifies two types of areas in the city, called nodes and corridors, where higher-density buildings would be allowed, up to six storeys in corridors and eight storeys in nodes.

Corridors include sections of some of the major routes through the city — University Avenue, St. Peters Road, Belvedere Avenue, Capital Drive — and the nodes will fall where the intersections of those arteries meet.

Ajay Punnapadam, owner of Confederation Construction and Interiors, likes what he sees in the plan.

"It's a very well-thought-out plan, there's no doubt about it. They've put in a lot of effort — and kudos to the team who did it. They've done a fabulous job with it," said Punnapadam.

"For the development of P.E.I. as a whole, we definitely need this kind of progress."

The city will hold open houses to present the plan and receive feedback Monday to Thursday of this week, all starting at 6:30 p.m. at the following locations: