Rothesay apartment complex spared

Residents of an affordable housing complex in Rothesay will be able to stay in their homes for now.

The town council voted Tuesday night to put off any plans to buy the stretch of affordable housing on Scott Avenue and replace it with a recreation centre. If the plan had been approved, the tenants in 48 units would have been forced to find new homes.

Joy Clowater, who lives in the housing complex, presented a petition and letter to town council asking that their housing complex be spared.

"I could have cried," Clowater said after council agreed to delay any plans to buy the apartment complex. "I thought to myself, I think we've done it."

But another tenant, Lorne Mahar, is concerned that the council could eventually reverse its decision. The town council voted to put off buying the land, but added the words "at this time" to the motion.

Mahar said he's not comfortable with the wording and is worried that he could eventually lose his home.

Mayor Bill Bishop said the wording means that if something changes in the next few years, the plans can be revisited.

He said council will keep searching for a site to build a new fieldhouse, and is looking at a large lot on Rothesay Road, which is vacant except for one house.