The City of Fredericton has approved two eight-storey apartment buildings for the Sunshine Gardens neighbourhood across from Odell Park.

This week, Fredericton's planning advisory committee approved the project through a variance, a process that doesn't require the approval of city council.

The 168-unit project will sit at the corner of Waggoners Lane and Rookwood Avenue across from the entrance to the park. The apartment buildings will also include a commercial use.

Work is expected to start in the spring, although dirt was already being piled at the site before the variance granted by the planning committee.

There was some opposition to having large apartment buildings alter the neighbourhood so close to the park, but John MacDermid, a member of the planning committee, said Fredericton needs them.

"The face of our city is going to change," MacDermid said Thursday.

"I think we can be nostalgic about it and say, 'Look I want to keep it the same.' But the reality is as our economy grows and as the city grows … we have to find a place to put these folks."

Right now, the properties at 264 and 270 Rookwood Ave. are both vacant.

A city that's growing

Year after year, MacDermid said up to 1,500 people move to New Brunswick's capital city, and the apartment buildings will help the city cope with the growth.

The city's population is expected to grow by 24,000 in the next two decades.

MacDermid said about 8,000 of those people will be living in the core, which extends up to the intersection where the apartment buildings will be built. And he expects more apartment buildings to pop up in coming years.

"It's a reality, our city is changing," said MacDermid.

The councillor said Fredericton also has one of the lowest apartment vacancy rates in New Brunswick, at around 1.7 per cent.

Positive public reaction so far

MacDermid acknowledged the mixed reaction to the project, including from two residents who shared their thoughts at this week's committee meeting.

He has also received some emails expressing concerns about the project, which included the buildings' closeness to Odell Park.

A snow-covered pile of dirt is already sitting at the lot where the 168-unit project will be built. (Submitted)

But a staff report to the committee also included letters of support, including a letter from Jim Morell.

He said there were too many "boxy buildings in the city," adding Fredericton needed more "architecturally unique and eye-appealing, modern-looking structures," which he suggested was what's being proposed by architect and project applicant Ann Scovil.

Another letter from Chris Miller said the new buildings would allow easy access to Odell Park, the local trail system and businesses in the area.

Only residents living within 30 metres of the planned buildings received letters notifying them of the development.

Buildings allowed on vacant lot

The city's zoning bylaw permits more than one larger-scale building on the lot, according to a staff report.

But any changes with zoning amendments are required to go through council, which has final approval.

According New Brunswick's Community Planning Act, a variance can be voted on at a planning advisory committee.

"It's being used exactly how the zoning bylaw outlines for it to be used," MacDermid said. "It's just changing the parameters."

Coun. John MacDermid applauds the new construction project. He says it will help with the city's population growth over the next 20 years. (CBC)

Those parameters include variances in density that would accommodate the additional units, a three-metre variance in building height, additional space for parking and a side yard setback to permit construction.

Wayne Knorr, a spokesperson for the city, said variances can be for a number of different projects that don't have to go through council, such as someone building a shed on their property.

The staff report also says the new apartment buildings could speed up a new roundabout that was expected to be built at Waggoners Lane and Rookwood Avenue for 2022.

Depending on a traffic study, budget approval and land acquisition, a new roundabout could now be built by 2021.