The City of Corner Brook is in receipt of a proposal to complete a rezoning of 21Mount Bernard Ave. Please take notice that the Corner Brook City Council is considering map amendments to the City’s Integrated Municipal Sustainability Plan 2012 (IMSP) and the 2012 Development Regulations (DR), as well as the addition of a supporting text amendment to the DR, in accordance with section 14 of the Urban and Rural Planning Act, 2000, as per the following:

The purpose of these Amendments are to allow Council to consider approval to rezone 21 Mount Bernard Ave., referred to as the Old Presentation School, from Community Service (CS) to Residential Low Density (RLD). The rezoning of the DR will coincide with a map amendment to the IMSP to re-designate the lands from Community Service (CS) to Residential (RES).

The developer has proposed to redevelop the property into a 24 unit apartment building. The developer intends to use the existing exterior without any major structural changes or extensions, and the existing parking lot and access are to be maintained. Re-development, infill, and intensification are strongly supported in the Municipal Plan. Policy 3.4.3 – 10 requires the authority to include provisions in the Development Regulations that give increased flexibility for “minor redevelopment, infill or building renovation projects that do not meet the more general regulations of the relevant zone as discretionary uses on a site-specific basis,” provided that specific conditions are met. This policy supports the proposed text amendment affording increased flexibility for the proposed redevelopment and reuse of an existing building (i.e. where development standards cannot be met by virtue of redevelopment site constraints, the proposal may be considered as a discretionary use). Further, in order to accommodate the proposed and future similar reuse/redevelopments, condition 1 of regulation 131 (conditions of ‘Residential Low Density (RLD)’ use zone) is proposed to be repealed. This condition lacks specificity for application and may prejudice the future development of other lots in the RLD use zone.

Rezoning this area from CS to RLD is proposed to achieve the best and highest use for these lands. The location is in very close proximity to Corner Brooks’ downtown core and requires no major changes to the land, therefore, there should be little in terms of environmental impacts from its’ redevelopment. The property has established parking and access, and is already connected to municipal water and sewer infrastructure which will further limit sprawl.  

Council requests that anyone wishing to provide comments on the proposed amendments do so in writing by 4:00 p.m., Friday, January 6, 2023. A response to this public notice shall form part of the public record. If you do not wish your name attributed to the comment, please advise the City when responding. Anyone wishing to inspect a copy of the proposed amendments may do so by visiting City Hall during business hours (8:30 am to 4:30 pm), by contacting the Planning Office at 637-1578, or by visiting the City’s website at www.cornerbrook.com.

Marina Redmond

City Clerk