Workers were cleaning up in front of 194 Main St. on Wednesday morning. The construction barricades have been removed and work has stopped. (Rick Conrad)

UPDATED Wed., July 9 at 1:55 p.m.

A rundown building in downtown Liverpool will go back on the market after regional council denied a developer’s request to turn it into apartments.

Councillors voted Tuesday not to change the municipal land use bylaw to allow Eric Fry to build up to 16 apartments at 194 Main St., known locally as the old Stedmans building.

Fry, president of SDL Investments Limited, told QCCR in an emailed statement on Wednesday evening that he won’t pursue the project any further.

“Unfortunately, we will be ceasing any further work on this project and putting the building up for sale immediately,” Fry said.

“While I understand that Liverpool does not wish to abandon its commercial presence on Main Street, we firmly believe that this decision is very short-sighted and does absolutely nothing to move the town forward, encourage new residents to move here or assist in revitalizing the downtown.”

He could not be reached for a followup interview about his statement.

The municipal planning strategy allows residential development downtown only in buildings with a primary commercial use. The bylaw requires that residential buildings in the downtown core have at least 50 per cent commercial space on the ground floor. 

Fry’s proposal was to transform the whole building into living space.

Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton told QCCR on Tuesday morning after the council meeting that even though councillors voted 5-2 against a bylaw change, she hopes Fry continues with some apartments in the space. She made the comments before Fry’s evening statement.

“I think our community and our council members have made it very clear that they want there to be a downtown core commercial presence. And that is our Main Street,” Charlton said in an interview. She chaired Tuesday’s meeting because Mayor Scott Christian was on vacation.

“And there is allowance now for residential units to go in there to still allow for some housing. 
So there is flexibility there. I do certainly hope that the developer will continue with this project in the revised way that it reads in our bylaws now, but certainly if he chooses not to, that’s certainly up to him.”

Fry bought the building in January for $235,000. In February, he applied to the region for a bylaw amendment to allow a residential-only development with indoor parking.

Councillors considered three options: to allow residential development as a main use in downtown, to allow it by development agreement with council’s approval or to keep the bylaw unchanged.

Before Fry acquired the property, it sat vacant for a few years and was heavily damaged by extreme weather. Before that, it housed a dollar store and office space on the ground floor.

Workers have been cleaning up the building’s interior and fixing damage since early spring.

“We are extremely shocked and disappointed in council’s decision this morning to deny our application to amend the Land Use Bylaw and Municipal Planning Strategy language,” Fry said in the statement.

“Having owned properties in Queens for more than 10 years, our understanding was that Liverpool needs more housing.  Our initial residential building, The Falls in Milton, has been fully occupied since it opened last fall and there is a list of residents wanting to move in when a unit becomes available. This led us to approach RQM about an additional project that would create 16 additional units in the heart of Liverpool. Not to mention, convert an otherwise dilapidated structure into a signature building to anchor the town’s Main Street.

“Liverpool needs residential housing and not additional commercial space clearly demonstrated by the number of For Rent signs in the downtown core.”

The region hired consultants UPLAND Planning from Halifax to hold two public engagement sessions and an online survey on the potential bylaw change.

Thirty people responded to the survey, and only seven people attended the information sessions at Queens Place Emera Centre.

Eighteen of the 30 survey respondents said they were supportive of removing the commercial requirement from the bylaw.

But local business owners told the consultants they were worried about how it could potentially erode the downtown commercial zone. 

The region’s planning advisory committee met on Monday to discuss the consultants’ report.

They recommended sticking with the status quo and keeping the bylaw unchanged.

District 5 Coun. Jack Fancy voted against the motion to maintain the status quo.

He said the building needs a lot of work and he’s worried Fry might sell it. 

“So in order to make it so it’s profitable, it has to be a lot of money coming back,” he told his fellow councillors. 

“
That’s the whole idea. You don’t put money into something if you’re not going to get your money back out of it.”

Fry also owns The Falls in Milton, a three-storey apartment complex on the Mersey River, geared toward people 55 and over.

His plan for 194 Main St. was to have apartments on two levels, with a parking entrance at the back of the building on Water Street.

“I’m not an expert,” Fry said in his statement to QCCR, “but from my experience, I don’t think this type of thinking is going to move the needle in a town with so much promise and potential.”

Here is what councillors voted on and how they voted:

MOTION: That Council of the Region of Queens Municipality maintain status quo and deny the application to amend the Municipal Planning Strategy and Land Use Bylaw to allow new multiple unit residential dwellings as a permitted main use in the Downtown Commercial (CD) Zone.

FOR: Maddie Charlton, Courtney Wentzell, Stewart Jenkins, Vicki Amirault, Wanda Carver

AGAINST: Jack Fancy, Roberta Roy

ABSENT: Mayor Scott Christian

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Eric and Dawn Fry are hoping to build 16 apartments in the old Stedmans building on Main Street in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad / File)

The Region of Queens announced its public engagement sessions this week for a possible change to the land use bylaw that could significantly alter the downtown landscape.

Developer Eric Fry wants to turn the former Stedmans building at 194 Main St. in Liverpool into 16 apartments. 

To do that, the region would have to amend its bylaw. In the downtown commercial district, residential units are permitted in buildings only if they have a primary commercial use.

Two sessions are planned for Queens Place Emera Centre on June 17 and June 19. Both are from 5 to 8 p.m. Both sessions are open to the public, though the first session is geared more toward business owners, while the second session is for everybody else.

Region staff and consultants UPLAND Planning will be there to answer questions.

The region has also launched an online survey to gather feedback. You can access that here: https://forms.gle/aTJ6SARs9eYSQrLX8

The consultants will prepare a report for council by the end of June. The region’s planning advisory committee will review the report. Council will then discuss any recommendations from the committee.

If there are proposed amendments to the land use bylaw, councillors would vote on those. If it passed first reading, then there would be a two-week notice period for a public hearing to be held before the final vote.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Eric Fry of SDL Investments Limited is hoping to build 16 apartments in the old Stedmans building on Main Street in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

UPDATED Mon., June 2 at 4:45 p.m.

The public will be able to give their feedback on a proposed new apartment building on Main Street in Liverpool that may result in a significant change to the downtown landscape.

The Region of Queens is considering an application from Eric Fry, president of SDL Investments Limited, to turn the former Stedmans building at 194 Main St. into 16 apartments. It was most recently used by a real estate development company. And before that, it housed a discount store and office space on the ground floor.

The region’s land use bylaw permits residential units on Main Street only in buildings with a commercial storefront.

The proposal from Fry’s SDL Investments Ltd. does not have any commercial element.

That means the land use bylaw would have to be amended for the project to go ahead. And that requires a public hearing.

The region’s planning advisory committee discussed the proposal in May.

Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton, a member of the planning advisory committee, said the committee wasn’t comfortable giving a recommendation on the potential bylaw change without “some thorough public engagement”.

“PAC was uncomfortable moving a recommendation forward without public engagement, knowing that either allowing this use by right or by development agreement, could open it up to some significant change,” she told councillors at their regular meeting last week.

Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR on Monday that the committee wanted a “more robust public information opportunity” before a public hearing “to be able to provide more information to the public about what the shape of the amendment to the land use bylaw that’s being envisioned, what that looks like.”

“So as a way to get a full package of information to engaged members of the community and then providing them with an opportunity to have their say. It’s not required by the province. It’s best practices, I think,” Christian said.

“We know that this is an important conversation for us to be having and so we wanted to make sure that we have lots of opportunity for getting the information out there and giving folks an opportunity to provide their feedback.” 

Public information sessions are planned in the community room at Queens Place Emera Centre, on June 17 and June 19, both from 5 to 8 p.m. One will be geared more toward the business community and the other toward residents, Christian said.

“A formal notice and some promotional materials will be coming out early next week,” Christian said. “It’s going to be a drop-in, drop-out type of engagement and information session as opposed to a town hall with a microphone. … And the organization will be set up with information and with some ways for folks to give their input.”

He said this type of consultation is more effective at getting information to people and gathering feedback.

UPLAND Planning, the consultants that helped draft the region’s land use bylaw and municipal planning strategy adopted in 2022, will lead the public consultation.

Originally, residents and business owners were also going to be able to complete an online survey. But Christian said Monday that may not happen.

According to a report from Mike MacLeod, director of land use, members of the planning advisory committee “felt that opening up the (commercial downtown zone) to residential development as-of-right was not in the best interest of the community and that if council was to permit this use, controls would need to be established.”

MacLeod said the committee asked for draft amendments to be prepared for them to examine before they made a recommendation to council.

The consultants will prepare a report for council by the end of June. The region’s planning advisory committee would review the report, and then council would discuss the committee’s recommendations at its July meeting.

Christian said if there are proposed amendments to the land use bylaw, councillors would vote on those. If it passed first reading, then there would be a two-week notice period for a public hearing to be held before the final vote.

Fry gave councillors details of his proposed development at their April 22 meeting.

He wants to build 16 one- and two-bedroom units over two floors. Parking for the units would be indoors on the ground level, where there would also be storage units and four apartments. One-bedroom apartments would be about 800 square feet, while the two-bedroom units would be from 1,100 to 1,500 square feet. 

Rents would be similar to his apartment building on the Mersey River in Milton, he said, which are around $2,000 a month.

Fry bought the 30,000-square-foot building in January for $235,000.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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