Zoning restrictions regarding wetlands protection and watercourses serve general goals for environmental stewardship. But those restrictions also provide enormous value for the municipality itself, by helping to provide storm water management, flood prevention and mitigation, and by reducing the risk of contamination of drinking water supplies.

Why this is important. Much of Saint John sits in an acknowledged, low-lying flood plain, and the City has already felt the cost of its failures to manage wetlands. Significant taxpayer money has been spent on mitigation and response to flooding problems caused by that lack of management. Those are unaccounted and avoidable costs, and continuing to ignore the need for wetlands management leaves the City and its taxpayers facing a real liability.

This is made more urgent because wetland protection has been dropped entirely by the Province (although it may be enforced at some point in the future once acceptable models/data are available).

However, wetlands protection and watercourse management isn’t just about preventing flooding and minimizing costs for taxpayers. it’s also about beautification, public land use, better drinking water, and a healthier environment.

What ZoneSJ gets right. Nothing. ZoneSJ includes no measures to protect wetlands, in effect leaving it entirely to the Province, despite the concerns noted above.

Issues and opportunities. Deferring to the Province on wetlands protection is unacceptable for two reasons:

1. The Province currently has no wetlands protection in place, and everyone knows it.
2. Even once the Province establishes wetlands protection, it may not meet the expectations or specific needs of our community.

Concern has been expressed regarding the impact that wetlands protection could have on Saint John’s growth. However, growth that ignores the risks associated with wetlands is bad growth, and a key imperative of PlanSJ is the need to limit bad growth.

Concern has been expressed regarding liability issues, requirements for fencing, and the diseases associated with wetlands (for example, West Nile virus).

Concerns have been expressed regarding the cost to the City (logistics of delineation, enforcement, and management). However, the City already has GIS staff able to support this requirement, and federal moneys are often available to offset these costs. If appropriate, costs can also be recovered through development fees.

Some of the delineation in this community has already been done by public and private partners. (For example, ACAP has delineated 75% of wetlands in the area.)

And once this work is done, it’s done. The maps and models can be used on an ongoing basis to plan for and regulate future development.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statements below:

Simple version
Please ensure that ZoneSJ includes measures and criteria to manage and protect wetlands and watercourses.

More detailed version

1. There is a short-term requirement for the City to regulate wetlands and watercourses, given the likelihood that this will become an election issue at the provincial level (and will thus be delayed).  
2. ZoneSJ must specify measures and criteria to manage and protect wetlands and watercourses.
3. ZoneSJ should dovetail with or augment Provincial policy, once that policy is enacted. There is nothing preventing the City from taking this authority. (As an example, at one point Hampton imposed a moratorium on floodplain development.)
4. Concerns regarding the cost to the City (logistics of delineation, enforcement, and management) are unjustified. This is a one-off investment. The City already has GIS staff able to support this requirement, and federal moneys are often available to offset these costs. Costs can also be recovered if needed through development fees.
5. Prioritize delineation and protection in watersheds specifically, and focus in those high-priority areas that are responsible for most of the flooding.
6. Request access to ACAP’s data. (ACAP has delineated 75% of wetlands in the area.)
7. Consider the use of rain gardens. State requirements for shrubs, trees in parking lots, etc. Specify requirements for plants that can provide filtering and pollution mitigation.
8. Set standards requiring the incorporation of green spaces in developments below the flood level, to mitigate flooding.
9. Specify requirements regarding setbacks and floodplains, watercourse setbacks and buffers, coastal development/mitigation, and wetlands mapping.
10. Do not permit the use of fill within the floodplain area, except where it is used for floodplain management or for flood proofing, and has been approved by the City.
11. ZoneSJ should address stormwater management, and the incorporation of flood retention ponds.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

Why this is important. Requiring that appropriate plant species are used for landscaping ensures that landscape investments will maintain their quality over time, as the plants are more likely to thrive in our environment. More importantly, by barring the introduction of invasive species, regulations could reduce the harm that those species can do to our ecosystem.

What ZoneSJ gets right. ZoneSJ does require that vegetation used for landscaping be capable of healthy growth in New Brunswick.

Issues and opportunities. ZoneSJ’s specification of ‘deciduous trees’ is too broad. It should specify ‘non-invasive deciduous trees’. (The same could be done for conifers, but there are no aggressive invasive conifers.)

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statement below:

Please add a requirement to the landscaping standards stating that only non-invasive plant species are to be used.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

ZoneSJ includes specifications for signage in order to provide consistent rules for sign owners, and to prevent the problems experienced in the past due to inappropriately designed signage or poor-quality temporary signage.

Issues and opportunities. Omitted from ZoneSJ are standards for projected signage – that is, signs that use digital projectors or spotlight projectors to create an image.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statement below:

1. There should be standards for projected signage.
2. Definitions should differentiate between signage and art.
3. Accommodation of special event signage is needed, with an appropriate process for requesting permission and ensuring enforcement.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

ZoneSJ does not include any provisions regarding buffers between residential areas and railway lines or industrial rights of way (such as pipelines). It also fails to address the presence of dangerous goods and hazardous materials (something that many other municipalities do include in their zoning restrictions).

Why this is important. Saint John is a very industrial city, and people often find themselves living and sleeping in close proximity to large-scale industrial operations and railway lines. The Lac Megantic disaster demonstrates how hazardous it can be for citizens close to rail lines that carry dangerous goods.

In addition, due to historical issues and lack of enforcement, many commercial and industrial operations currently exist in residential areas, potentially storing and using hazardous materials close to unaware populations. Incentives for mixed-use developments may actually contribute to this risk in the long term.

What ZoneSJ gets right. Nothing. ZoneSJ does not currently address this issue.

Issues and opportunities. There should be a clause addressing dangerous goods occupancy (the presence of hazardous materials requiring the approval of Emergency Services / EMO), in order to ensure that emergency management is informed about risks to the community.

While existing residences close to rail lines or industrial rights of way cannot be moved, ZoneSJ should prevent new development close to those hazards.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statement below:

Please address dangerous goods occupancy as part of ZoneSJ, and do as much as possible to mitigate the risks from railways and industrial rights of way by preventing adjacent residential development.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

The City isn’t allowed to set restrictions on telecommunications towers, but it can express its preferences to telecommunications companies through a formal planning document.

Why this is important. Citizens often express real fear and frustration regarding the siting of cellphone towers, but fail to understand that the municipality has no jurisdiction over those towers.

What ZoneSJ gets right. In this case, doing nothing may be the right thing to do, because of the jurisdictional issues.

Issues and opportunities. There may be an opportunity to define guidelines (not requirements) that telecommunications companies can use to try to adapt their installations to accommodate community desires (for example, by making towers less visible).

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statement below:

Please define a community standard to guide telecommunications companies in the design and siting of towers.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

ZoneSJ does not include any provisions governing archeologically significant finds or sites.

Why this is important. Saint John is an archeologically rich area, and archeological finds are probably more the norm than the exception.

What ZoneSJ gets right. Nothing. ZoneSJ does not currently address this issue. (Note that other municipalities, such as Halifax, do.)

Issues and opportunities. Where excavation is required for a development in any area identified as potentially archeologically significant, the application should be referred to the appropriate Provincial body for any action it deems necessary with respect to the preservation of archaeological resources in accordance with provincial requirements.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statement below:

Please address archeologically significant sites in ZoneSJ, and ensure that archeologically important assets are protected.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

ZoneSJ sets requirements for developers to provide ‘amenity spaces’ for residents. See ZoneSJ page 52 (PDF page 69).

Why this is important. Amenity spaces may increase livability and the desirability of urban living, which is important to intensification efforts and overall quality of life.

However, the burden placed on developers to provide amenity spaces is a potential dis-incentive for development, as it increases the cost and complexity of that development.

What ZoneSJ gets right. By identifying an issue important to residents of multi-unit dwellings, ZoneSJ focuses appropriately on quality of life and desirability of residential stock.

Issues and opportunities. There’s a justification for modifying this for the Uptown. It has been argued that the entire Uptown, with its public spaces, services, bars and restaurants is an amenity space.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statement below:

Please reduce or eliminate the requirement for amenity spaces in residential developments in the Uptown area, as the neighbourhood already provides lots of social and recreational opportunities.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

ZoneSJ includes a significantly paired down version of the recommendations accepted by PAC and Council regarding urban chicken farming.

For example, the original recommendation specified a two-chicken minimum to ensure animal welfare. There is strong evidence that single-chicken coups cause serious stress for the animal, and there is a significant risk that without a minimum, single-chicken coups could be common in many parts of the City.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statement below:

Please ensure that all the recommendations accepted by PAC and Common Council regarding urban chicken farming are incorporated into ZoneSJ, including the minimum of two chickens per coup.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

Why this is important. Fourteen percent of Canadians are people with disabilities, and as Saint John’s population continues to age that number will only increase.  Ensuring that people with disabilities have equal access to living, working and playing in our community should be automatic.

What ZoneSJ gets right. ZoneSJ includes standards for accessible parking spaces in a variety of development forms.

Issues and opportunities. There are no universal accessibility standards in ZoneSJ other than the parking space requirements.  Public safety issues such as priority siting for pedestrian crossings and chirping signals for high volume commercial developments are an easy example of Universal Design practices that are hardly new in urban planning.  Yet ZoneSJ seems to completely ignore this segment of our population and does not include any of these established development standards.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statements below:

Simple version
The elderly and people with disabilities deserve equal access to our city.  Please establish accessibility standards in ZoneSJ that ensure this growing segment of our population is barrier-free.

More detailed version

1. Consult with the Saint John Ability Advisory Committee and the Premiers Council on the Status of Disabled Persons to develop standards for universal accessibility (disability accommodation) devices to improve public safety (for example, chirping signals at high-volume pedestrian crossings).
2. Explore Universal Design practices and incorporate standards into ZoneSJ to accommodate the elderly, people with disabilities, and others.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

Why this is important. One in five Saint John residents lives in poverty, as do one in three children under the age of six. Over 40% of our existing housing was built before 1960 and needs significant renovation just to meet minimum standards.  Safe, affordable housing should be a top priority in this community.

What ZoneSJ gets right.  Affordable housing development is allowed everywhere residential development is allowed.  This helps to prevent ghettoization, and might help people living in poverty in our Priority Neighbourhoods migrate into other parts of the city, decreasing the concentration of poverty in a given neighbourhood.

ZoneSJ also reduces parking requirements by 50% for units that meet the Affordable Dwelling definition (and further reduces the requirement by 20% in the Intensification Areas).

ZoneSJ allows people who live in their own home to build Secondary Suites, making the home more affordable to the owner and providing an affordable rental unit to someone else.  It also allows people who live in their own home to build Garden Suites (i.e. Carriage or Laneway Houses).

Issues and opportunities. Unfortunately the options for Secondary and Garden Suites are only available to people who live in the property they own; almost 10% of our housing is owned by “absentee landlords” and those properties are not eligible for this form of affordable housing.

The definition of Affordable Dwelling is attached to the NB Affordable Housing Program, a provincial government subsidy program for affordable housing development.  This definition is too restrictive to promote affordable housing development, particularly in the private sector, and the attachment to a funding program that is not controlled by the City is too precarious to rely on.  However, the city could adopt the commonly accepted definition of 30% of the most recent Market Basket Measure (provided by StatsCan) for Saint John, a number which accurately reflects the cost of living specific to our city.  This alternative definition is more accurate, less restrictive, easy for city staff to administer, and easy for developers to understand.

With the exception of the parking reduction, ZoneSJ does not include incentives to promote the development of affordable housing.  While slim margins for developers are the norm, affordable housing is even less attractive and less likely.  So with the exception of the work of a few non-profit agencies, affordable housing developments are not likely to occur.

If we want affordable housing in our city we will have to provide incentives to encourage this form of development.  Progressive communities who are achieving poverty reduction make this a priority, and generally provide a number of different incentives that are relevant to the many different types of housing needed.  For example:

• Land Banks allow market-rate developers to donate a land parcel to the “bank”, which is set aside for future affordable housing projects.  This incentive is often attractive to developers of high-end properties on a larger scale.
• Waived fees are a simple incentive tool for municipalities, where application fees and other costs associated with project planning are waived in return for the inclusion of affordable units.
• Cash-in-Lieu programs allow developers to make a financial contribution to a dedicated fund, in lieu of meeting certain development requirements.  This option is often attractive to small-scale developers and infill projects.
• Tax Holidays are arguably the most attractive to all developers and are often cited as the main incentive for providing affordable units in a mixed-income development.  A short-term (typically 2-5 year) tax holiday could be a significant help in creating new affordable housing units.

There are many other ways to incentivize, manage and enforce affordable housing development.  Including a program of this nature in ZoneSJ is a necessity if we want to ensure a safe and warm roof over our collective heads.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statements below:

Simple version
Saint John needs more affordable housing, and developers need to be encouraged to build it in many different forms. 

The definition of Affordable Dwelling in ZoneSJ is too narrow.  Please use a definition that does not rely on participation in a funding program run by another level of government. Use 30% of the most recent Market Basket Measure for Saint John.

Provide a range of incentives to make it attractive and worthwhile for developers to include some affordable units in their projects.  Create an incentive program based on proven practices, which allows developers to pick and choose what they need to get the project built. 

More detailed version

1. Redefine Affordable Dwelling as 30% of the most recent Market Basket Measure for the City of Saint John.
2. Establish an administration system for the Affordable Dwelling Program which is based on real data, easy for city staff to administer and easy for developers / property managers to participate in.
3. Establish an enforcement scheme with financial penalties that, at a minimum, ensure cost-recovery.
4. Allow Secondary and Garden Suites in non-owner occupied properties.
5. Create a “menu” of incentives specifically to promote the development of affordable housing.
6. Permit mobile homes in intensification areas (in locations where they fit the built form, and with the application of appropriate standards).

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

Zoning restrictions around the drinking water supply (watershed) for Saint John protects the city’s water supply from contamination and disruption that might be caused by development activity within the watershed boundaries or catchment basin for the reservoir.

Why this is important. The quality of our drinking water is determined largely by the cleanliness and abundance of our source water. Anything that could affect a drinking water reservoir puts our drinking water, and our community health, at risk.

Storm water runoff that starts in headwater areas eventually discharges into basins (lakes or reservoirs).  Sediment and other contaminants (for example, septic field runoff) from developed areas may be discharged into those reservoirs. The creation of impervious surface (asphalt, roofs etc) increases peak water flows; instead of being released slowly, as is the case in a natural forested watershed, faster runoff can cause reservoir levels to fluctuate dramatically with every rainfall, making it difficult to serve the City’s water demand during prolonged periods of drought.

What ZoneSJ gets right. ZoneSJ includes a specific zone, the EP zone, to protect drinking water reservoirs.

Issues and opportunities. The EP zoning that surrounds watershed lands, particularly Latimer Lake, doesn’t go far enough in protecting water supply from outside influences (such as erosion and other pollutants, contaminants etc.) from development (for example, the EP zoning follows the property boundary and not the actual watershed boundary).

This is especially important for rural development, since the proposed land uses under the draft bylaw are inconsistent with drinking water quality.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statements below:

Simple version
Ensure that ZoneSJ protects our drinking water as much as possible from inappropriate land use.

More detailed version
Amend ZoneSJ to protect all land within the actual watershed boundary, especially headwater lands (due to their influence on water quality). 

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

Active transit infrastructure is needed to provide complete connectivity throughout the community. This is essential for a ‘complete community’, but it also ensures that all residents – regardless of socio-economic status – have access to affordable and effective transportation.

Why this is important. Active transportation is the most affordable and healthiest form of transportation, and is also the most cost-effective for municipalities to maintain.

What ZoneSJ gets right. ZoneSJ acknowledges this by including bicycle parking requirements for large-scale (minimum 10,000 square metre) commercial developments, and for residential developments of twenty-five or more units.

ZoneSJ also provides improved standards for parking lot construction, including curbing and islands to control vehicle traffic in larger developments. These changes improve safety for active transit users and particularly pedestrians (which is very important to low-income residents).

Issues and opportunities. However, by limiting these requirements to large-scale developments, there is a risk that we will be left with patchwork active transit infrastructure that lacks the continuous corridors required to encourage use by residents.

ZoneSJ also provides a definition of ‘walkway’ that prescribes building materials but fails to set requirements for priority siting, linkages to public space infrastructure and public transit, etc.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statements below:

Simple version
Saint John has demanded better public and active transit for years.  Let’s do what Fredericton has done and set standards for fully connected active transportation corridors, with green space, that let people walk, bike, board, etc. across the entire city. We need a stronger transit system. We need standards that promote public transit, and ZoneSJ must set those standards!

More detailed version

1. Consult with Saint John Transit to develop a Transit section in ZoneSJ, detailing minimum curb construction standards which support transit equipment (for example, the kneeling bus system), transit island standards, and bus shelter siting standards.
2. Ensure priority siting of pedestrian walkways (vs. personal vehicle throughways), connecting any adjacent public spaces (for example, Harbour Passage) or existing public transit infrastructure (for example, the transit island at McAllister Mall), and creating fully connected active transit corridors.
3. Include bicycle parking requirements in medium-scale residential developments. This could also be presented as an “in lieu of a portion of vehicular parking” option.
4. Include bicycle parking requirements even in the parking exemption area. Active transportation promotion is a key element of PlanSJ, and the elimination of bicycle parking requirements is not likely to be a significant incentive for intensification development.
5. Expand the bicycle parking mandate to include mid- and large-scale commercial developments (zones CC, CR and CG).
6. Add standards to the CC, CR and CG zones to address safety and connectivity to transit services for walkways designated for active transit and pedestrian use.
7. Consider a transit fund contribution option, in lieu of % of parking spaces required for small-scale developments.
8. Incorporate active transportation elements into future street design, upgrades and maintenance (for example, bike lanes, crossings, etc.).
9. Consult with the Saint John Ability Advisory Committee and the Premiers Council on the Status of Disabled Persons to develop standards for universal accessibility (disability accommodation) devices to improve public safety (ex. chirping signals at high-volume pedestrian crossings).

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

Public transit is a key element of affordable transportation and an essential service in any urban environment. Residents (particularly low-income residents) must have an effective, frequent and affordable transit system to access employment, education, healthcare and community services.

Why this is important. Built infrastructure often determines how efficient and effective a transit service can be. Zoning and infrastructure standards can support public transit by including requirements for that infrastructure.

What ZoneSJ gets right. With respect to public transit, nothing. ZoneSJ completely ignores public transit.

Issues and opportunities. ZoneSJ could accommodate future growth by including a Transit section, with standards for:

– transit islands, required in large-scale commercial developments
– transit shelters (siting, drainage and public safety standards)
– curb standards (materials, height, etc.) appropriate for kneeling-bus equipment
– road standards in residential developments that connect to existing infrastructure in such a way to allow buses to actually transit (for example, no cul-de-sacs).

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statements below:

Simple version
Please do more to help ensure that residents have access to effective and affordable public transit. Make developers build bus shelters and transit islands as part of large projects. Set standards to ensure that the public is safe, and that residents have access to public transit regardless of age or disability.

More detailed version

1. Add a Transit section to ZoneSJ.
2. Specify standards for transit islands, shelters, curbs and road infrastructure in residential developments.
3. Make the creation of transit islands and shelters a requirement for large-scale commercial and residential developments.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

A mixed-use neighbourhood is one where people live in the same areas where people work and shop. For example, buildings may have stores and business on the first floors, and residential apartments on the upper floors.  ZoneSJ will have a significant impact on the development of mixed-use neighbourhoods.

Why this is important. Mixed-use development can provide affordable housing and access to employment for low-income residents, particularly the working poor. These developments are usually close to work, education, health care and community services. They are usually along transit corridors. Mixed-use housing is also very sustainable and cost-effective for municipalities.

Mixed-use development can also attract the workers we need (for example, home-care professionals, service-sector workers, etc.) because it is affordable and provides easy access to employment centres. Mixed-use neighbourhoods increase workforce participation and make our economy more productive.

What ZoneSJ gets right. Permitted uses include a variety of commercial development, providing neighbourhood-level employment opportunities and a more complete community.

Issues and opportunities. The CBP, CG and CM zones provide mixed-use development, typically in the form of street-level commercial units and residential units on the upper floors. These pockets exist across the city and have excellent access to services and employment centres. These zones are highly desirable with respect to employment, active transit and housing affordability. Since many of these zones are adjacent to Priority Neighbourhoods (pockets of concentrated poverty of 25%+), we could help low-income residents migrate out of Priority Neighbourhoods, decreasing poverty concentration by encouraging mixed-use development that includes affordable housing units.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statements below:

Simple version
Mixed-use development is a great opportunity to drive employment and increase housing options.  Please create effective incentives to encourage mixed-use development. Also include incentives that will ensure the inclusion of affordable housing units in these projects, to provide housing for the Working Poor.

More detailed version

1. Provide significant incentives to promote mixed-use developments.
2. Provide additional incentives for developers to include affordable dwelling units as a portion of the residential component of these developments.
3. Add small, residential scale commercial zones to the Lower West Side and Crescent Valley / Anglin Drive Priority Neighourhoods.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

Zoning can provide economic opportunities by making it legal to run home-based businesses.

Why this is important. Home-based business makes it easier for low-income residents to launch their own small businesses and participate in the economy.

What ZoneSJ gets right. ZoneSJ allows a number of home-based occupations (depending on the form of housing, such as single dwelling residential) throughout the city.

ZoneSJ allows home-based daycares, providing an affordable form of childcare as well as home-based employment opportunities. This helps both daycare operators and their clients (especially the working poor).

Issues and opportunities. Section 9 of ZoneSJ does not allow a multi-unit building to host more than one home-based business. For example, it forbids the operation of a home daycare and a business office in the same multi-unit building.

The list of allowed occupations in ZoneSJ is very specific, and may exclude a wide range of acceptable businesses and professions.

Cheat sheet for your feedback. If you want to provide feedback on this issue, feel free to use or edit the statements below:

Simple version
Please let people run home-based businesses in as many types of residences as possible. Do not limit the types of businesses people can run from their homes, unless they interfere with the ability of others to enjoy their property.

More detailed version

1. Clarify the language in Section 9 to ensure that multiple home-based businesses are permitted in a multi-unit building, as long as those businesses do not interfere with each other and do not impair other residents’ enjoyment of their personal spaces.
2. Make the list of allowed occupations more general and inclusive. Consider a permissive model that disallows specific occupations that may be undesirable or problematic.

The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca). And copy your councillors.

Why this is important. One in five Saint John residents lives in poverty, as do one in three children under the age of six. Poverty reduction should be a unique priority in this community.

Issues and opportunities. Zoning affects the development of public spaces, housing, commercial buildings, amenity spaces, transportation infrastructure, etc. Zoning can even impact food security and the ability of residents to access employment. ZoneSJ could contribute to long-term poverty reduction by:

• Promoting the development of affordable housing
• Enabling economic and workforce participation
• Fostering access to transportation
• Contributing to Priority Neighbourhood development.

Progressive communities who succeed at poverty reduction do so by using every tool at their disposal, including forward-thinking zoning policies. ZoneSJ should include this as a priority.

These topics will be addressed in more detail throughout the day, in later posts that will provide full explanations and sample feedback. Stay tuned!

ZoneSJ will have an enormous, ongoing impact on the sustainability and quality of our community, for decades to come. We all have a role to play in making sure we get it right.

What do you need to do? The deadline for your feedback to the City on ZoneSJ is Friday November 29th. Submit your input to (via webform, or in writing to planning@saintjohn.ca) by tomorrow afternoon. And get in touch with your councillors to let them know what you love or hate about ZoneSJ, and what you think needs to change.

To help you make the deadline, we’re posting information on specific topics over the course of the day and evening. We’re also going to provide a ‘cheat sheet’ of simple statements you might want to include in your submission, or edit to express your opinions. The topics we’re going to cover include:

• poverty reduction
• affordable housing
• economic participation
• mixed use development
• transportation, public transit and active transit
• amenity spaces
• signage
• landscaping standards and invasive species
• watercourses and wetlands protection
• watershed protection and drinking
• dangerous goods and hazardous materials
• rail and industrial safety
• urban chickens
• parking.

We’ll also post links on Twitter at @_plansj.