A proposed building for 35 Main Street will no longer include eight one-bedroom apartments as was proposed back in July. The rental housing was removed from the project due to a need for expediency, says the CEO of the company that is building the project.

Harold Daley of Quest Properties says a dental clinic planned for the main floor of the building was always the priority. “The apartments were a nice addition if the construction didn’t mean a longer schedule,” writes Daley by email. “Unfortunately it would have added too much time to the schedule so we returned to the commercial option only.”

The proposal came before Tantramar council Monday afternoon in an application under the town’s economic development incentive program. Over the first five years after the project is completed, Tantramar will rebate a portion of the property tax on the building. According to calculations modelled on those in the town’s policy, the $804,500 project would get about $54,600 in tax rebates over the five year period, while paying a net of $39,500 in tax. The current taxes on the vacant property beside town hall are just under $900 per year.

The town’s incentive program is intended to accelerate “commercial, industrial and multiple unit resident development,” but Corporate Services director Kieran Miller says there are also other policies in the municipality that help encourage residential development. Miller points out that land in the town of Sackville is pre-zoned to allow for higher densities, particularly in Mixed Use and Residential R3 zones, while even in Residential R2 zones, buildings up to six units are allowed. The Sackville zoning bylaw also allows for attached accessory dwellings to single family homes, and for homes as small as 400 square feet (20 feet by 20 feet) to be built.

Miller said via email that the town needs “developers to take advantage of these incentives and policies in order to increase rental housing options. Unfortunately, current interest rates and cost of building are not favourable for developers right now.”

The latest site plan for a dental clinic at 35 Main Street in Sackville, from a Tantramar economic development incentive program application.

The project at 35 Main is zoned Mixed Use under the town of Sackville bylaw.That means the proposed building – with or without the extra two storeys and eight rental units–can be built without approval by town council.

The lot is owned by a numbered company with Moncton-based dental surgeon Daniel Nachaat listed as a director, and the proposed dental clinic is billed as ‘Sackville Smiles’ on the project application.

The new site plan includes some other changes from its July version. The 75-foot-long building is now oriented parallel to the Main Street sidewalk, with parking in the rear, accessible from a driveway at Main facing Charlotte Street.