The City of Charlottetown will hear from residents this week about how to add more housing density within the city’s existing footprint.
Council is holding four public consultation sessions over the next few days to let people weigh in on long-awaited updates to Charlottetown’s official plan.
At the centre of the discussions will be a concept called “gentle infilling” — increasing housing density within the city’s limits, building new multi-unit structures on vacant lots and spots where old buildings must be demolished — instead of continuing to build outward.
With the city’s population expected to grow by tens of thousands of people over the next 25 years, Deputy Mayor Alanna Jankov said gentle infilling is needed from both a housing point of view and an economic perspective.
“Back when this official plan was first developed, Charlottetown was very flat, so we need to look at ways [of] building up versus out. The city can’t afford it,” Jankov said.
“You think about the infrastructure that needs to be put in place … when you do the sprawl. If you go out too far, you’re hitting into farmland, and we want to preserve that too.”
