{"id":8852,"date":"2025-06-18T15:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T18:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8852"},"modified":"2025-06-18T15:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T18:51:11","slug":"small-turnout-strong-opinions-at-first-session-on-downtown-liverpool-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/06\/18\/small-turnout-strong-opinions-at-first-session-on-downtown-liverpool-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Small turnout, strong opinions at first session on downtown Liverpool development"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Ryan MacLean with UPLAND Planning and Design Studio explains the options regarding a proposed change to how residential developments are handled in downtown Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was a small turnout for the first public engagement session about a proposed change to downtown development in Liverpool.<\/span><\/p>\n

Developer Eric Fry wants to turn the old Stedmans building<\/a> at 194 Main St. in Liverpool into 16 apartments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Region of Queens land use bylaw allows residential development downtown only in buildings with a primary commercial use.<\/span><\/p>\n

Three options are on the table for the public to consider: to allow residential developments in the commercial district as a main use by right, to allow them by development agreement which would require council approval, or to stay with the status quo and reject any amendments to the bylaw.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first drop-in session on Tuesday evening was geared toward the business community. The second session is focused on hearing from residents. That is scheduled for Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. in the community room at Queens Place Emera Centre. There is also an online survey available<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The region hired UPLAND Planning and Design Studio from Halifax to lead the public engagement. Two representatives from that company were at Tuesday\u2019s session, along with Mike MacLeod, the region\u2019s director of land use.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ryan MacLean, an engagement manager with UPLAND, said they’ve already heard a variety of opinions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have expressed great support for any opportunity to increase residential development, expressing their concerns around the housing crisis, but then we\u2019ve also heard concern around the potential for if you permit more residential uses, then it could erode the commercial character of the downtown.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Beach Meadows resident Mary White is a member of the region\u2019s planning advisory committee, which recommended having the public sessions.<\/span><\/p>\n

She doesn’t want the bylaw to change. And she said she\u2019d like to see the region do more to support local businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we need to maintain the commercial spaces on Main Street and I think that we need to decide as a community what we want the future of our community to be. And if that\u2019s to have a main core then we need to support that. And as a municipality, I would hope they would get together and decide some intitiatives to help the (businesspeople) that are there that have been struggling and hanging on for so long.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rigel Jones, executive director of the South Queens Chamber of Commerce, <\/span>said she was staying open-minded about any changes to downtown development.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know the feedback we\u2019ve gotten from members in the chamber is they\u2019re struggling with foot traffic and that having more residents on main street could change that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Liverpool resident Paul Deveau said he\u2019s against the bylaw change, though he\u2019s in favour of more residential development on Main Street.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI firmly believe that, yes, we should allow some apartments to be built down there under the current use. All across Canada municipality have come up with urban plans for their main streets. … It\u2019s a work-live-play. So they should have apartments on top of these businesses but still have the businesses stay. The moment you start allowing them to be converted into residential that’s the moment that all the street is going to be turned into residential because that\u2019s where they\u2019re going to make the most money.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s happy the municipality is \u201cfinally\u201d having some public engagement, but said two sessions aren\u2019t enough for such a significant discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n

The consultants will prepare a report for council by the end of June. The region\u2019s planning advisory committee will then review the report and make recommendations to council.<\/span><\/p>\n

If there are proposed amendments to the land use bylaw, councillors would vote on those. If they\u2019re approved initially, then there would be a two-week notice period for a public hearing to be held before the final vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/bylawpublicinputjun1825.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a small turnout for the first public engagement session about a proposed change to downtown development in Liverpool. Developer Eric Fry wants to turn the old Stedmans building at 194 Main St. in Liverpool into 16 apartments.\u00a0 The Region of Queens land use bylaw allows residential development downtown only in buildings with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[3011,3165,3013,855,384,671,39,3228,957,2948,24,3167,3229,3226,217,3014,3227],"class_list":["post-8852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-194-main-st","tag-commercial-district","tag-downtown-development","tag-eric-fry","tag-housing","tag-land-use-bylaw","tag-liverpool","tag-mary-white","tag-mike-macleod","tag-paul-deveau","tag-region-of-queens","tag-residential-development","tag-rigel-jones","tag-ryan-maclean","tag-south-queens-chamber-of-commerce","tag-stedmans-building","tag-upland-planning-and-design-studio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8855,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8852\/revisions\/8855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}