Summerside rejects nuns' proposed convent location

A plan by a groupof nuns to open a daycare and convent in Summerside, P.E.I., hita hurdle on Tuesday when the city council rejected the group's rezoning application.

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The council was acceptingthe recommendation of its technical services department, which said the application to rezone a property at 291South Drive should be denied.

Some neighbours have spoken out against the idea, raising concerns about increased traffic from the child-care facility.

"Re-zoning from residential zoning to institutional zoning is a challenge, particularly when you've got significant opposition from the adjoining residents who obviously bought their property in a residential zone expecting that zone would be respected," said Mayor Bill Martin.

Many council members said they approve of the sisters and their plan and would be open to accommodating them in another location.

The Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Ragusaare coming to P.E.I. at the invitation of Bishop Richard Grecco, who was looking for nuns to move to the Island after the departure of another order several years ago.

The nuns had accepted an offer on the property, but it was conditional on the rezoning.

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