Published 5:30 am Thursday, July 9, 2026
The planned construction of a six-story apartment building at 3400 Barrington Rd. adjacent to a wetland is being questioned after new environmental information has come to light.
Neighbour Tamara Brown, who addressed Nanaimo city council at its meeting on Monday, July 6, said the project, located near Rock City Road, would remove approximately 437 trees and involve the extensive blasting of bedrock beside, what is now believed to be, an exceptionally rare peatland ecosystem.
She said that since the city approved the project’s development permit in January, 2026, important new ecological information has emerged regarding the wetland, and questions remain about whether the applicable provincial environmental framework was identified and applied before the development permit for the project was approved by the city.
“This new information warrants pausing any further disturbance of the site until it has been independently reviewed,” Brown said.
“New information has also emerged regarding hydrological connectivity at the site, riparian protection, species of conservation concern and downstream fish habitat. Several independent reviews are now underway. What does the city intend to do in light of this new and significant information?”
Coun. Ben Geselbracht asked staff that, if it is discovered that new and relevant environmental information regarding the site has arisen since the city issued the project a development permit, does the city have any recourse to deal with it.
“If it does get discovered that there are quite a lot of things that were missed, do we have any way to pause this development and get a hydrological assessment to look at how the wetland is recharged, or if blasting the rock is going to affect the water at the site?” he asked.
Nanaimo’s director of planning and development Jeremy Holm said the city has no ability to pause the development of the project at this stage.
But he said the project’s developer is currently working through the building-permitting process and providing additional information to address some of the concerns that have been raised, as typically happens through development-approval processes.
“The world changes and as conditions change, there will be surveys undertaken immediately prior to any tree removal to address regulations around the protection of nesting birds,” Holm said.
“Also, with respect to the hydrology, there are additional registered professionals that are working on the application. There are geotechnical engineers, civil engineers and another qualified environmental professional that are reviewing it … to ensure that it complies with the city’s manual of engineering standards and specifications, and to address the issues that have been identified and raised as well.”
Holm said that at the time of the rezoning of the property to allow the project to receive a development permit, which is issued before a project’s developer applies for a building permit, there were reports put forward by the professionals suggesting what the issues are and how they might be addressed, and then those are refined through the development and building-permit stages as they get into the details of the issues.
“So there’s ongoing work, ongoing reviews and design by qualified professionals to address some of these things,” he said.
