The City has received an application to rezone land at 130 Aberdeen Avenue from the Commercial Regional (CR) Zone to the Apartment Medium Density (A2) and Residential High Density (R3) Zones for the purpose of a residential subdivision with a mix of housing types. This application is being reviewed by staff and will be brought to Council for consideration soon. A number of revisions were required on the initial submission.
From Section 11.2 of the St. John’s Development Regulations, any development in the vicinity of the St. John's Airport is subject to the St. John's Urban Region Regional Plan (SJURRP) concerning Noise Exposure Forecast (NEF) Zones and Bird Hazard Zones. The City uses the policies in the Regional Plan for these applications. The NEF system is used by Transport Canada to evaluate the extent of noise impacts and depends on factors such as the number of air traffic movements, type of aircraft in use, the runways used, the slide and approach paths, and other factors. The higher the NEF number, the louder the noise and thus the greater the noise impacts. The aim is to ensure that land uses which are sensitive to noise (such as residential uses where people could be awakened at night by aircraft noise) are kept away from the airport.
The Airport Authority promotes the important economic role of the airport, including its ability to operate 24 hours a day. There are many airports where overnight operations are not allowed due to the presence of residential areas close by. With the geographic location of St. John’s at the extreme east of Canada, the airlines start their day very early in order to move westward across the provinces. Also, many flights may end their run in St. John’s well after midnight. Years ago, the Airport Authority advised the City that any threat to 24-hour operation could create challenges for accommodating the needs of the airlines.
The Regional Plan recognizes that aircraft and helicopter movements are noisy and aims to minimize adverse impacts. The Plan sets minimum requirements for development using the NEF. New residential uses are limited to areas outside of the 35 NEF Zone (that means NEF numbers lower than 35) and recommends that any residential development between the 30 and 35 NEF Zone have sufficient sound insulation. It has been noted that the Regional Plan’s NEF Zones are from 1996 and have not been updated since. Using these lines, the proposed rezoning and development at 130 Aberdeen Avenue would fall between the 25 and 30 NEF Zones and thus would be permitted under the St. John’s Development Regulations and the Regional Plan. Relevant sections of the Regional Plan are attached for Council’s reference.
However, as part of the standard review for applications near the airport, the application was referred to the Airport Authority for comment. The Airport Authority were not concerned about building elevations in the proposed development (taller buildings may pose a problem on the approach to a runway) but expressed concern about their noise maps. According to their most recent NEF data (attached), the proposed development is bisected by the 30 NEF contour and they believe that new residential development is not suitable above the 30 NEF contour. They recommended that the developer rearrange the site plan to keep residential uses on the low side of the 30 NEF contour. This information is different from the Regional Plan, where the NEF map is different and where the policy allows new residential between the 30 and 35 NEF Zones. In follow-up correspondence, the Airport Authority maintained their initial recommendation against new residential development between the 30 and 35 NEF Zones, which would be more restrictive than the Regional Plan and the City’s Development Regulations. The noise from the airport would be a source of complaints from people living nearby. In isolated cases where the 30 NEF contour might bisect a residential lot, they could consider recommending a dwelling, but did not support general residential development above the 30 NEF Zone. With respect to maps, the Airport Authority recently reviewed the NEF contours and strongly cautioned against using old NEF contours. This information was passed along to the applicant.
Further information can be found in the attached information note.