Joni Mitchell’s oft-cited lyric about paving over paradise to put up a parking lot literally came to life on Monday as work commenced on a controversial new apartment building in Fonthill. First step: take out the trees to make way for a parking lot.
Developer Stephen Kaiser’s six-storey building was approved by council last year, with site plan approval including the relocation of Concordia Lutheran Church’s parking lot from west to east, necessitating the removal of about 20 maple and locust trees from the corner of Welland Road and Pelham Street.
According to Town of Pelham Communications Specialist Leah Letford, new tree planting and landscaping will be added elsewhere on the property.
“The developers are also providing the new service connections for the proposed apartment building, which was a condition of the severance approval, and that work has also commenced,” said Letford.
It is anticipated that construction of the apartment building itself will start later this year.
