Moncton City Council has paved the way for the construction of a 10-storey apartment tower at the northwest corner of Main Street and Vaughan Harvey Boulevard.

During Monday’s regular meeting, council unanimously passed first reading on the project at 1333 Main Street from Chad Blakney on behalf of the landowner, 717035 NB Inc.

The mixed-use tower will have commercial space on the ground floor, two levels of underground parking and more than 150 apartments.

Vehicular access into the property will be from two driveways off Atlantic Avenue.

City planner Bill Budd said the developer conducted a traffic study for the busy intersection and it was accepted by the city engineering department.

“The proposed development is expected to generate 85 new vehicle trips at A.M. peak hours and 122 new vehicle trips in the P.M. peak hours.”

According to a city staff report, the proposed right-in and right-out access from Atlantic Avenue to Main Street is expected to mean minimal delays on Main.

The Main and Enterprise Street intersection will be busier but average delays of less than 35 seconds per vehicle are likely.

Traffic on adjacent residential streets may double but should still fall within the range for a minor local street.

Budd referred to the tower as a gateway to downtown from West Main and he noted how it supports the city’s ultimate goal.

“The vision for the downtown is to try to have high density development in the central business district.”

At least 10 percent of apartments in the building will be affordable housing units.

The landowners also intend to install two public EV charging stations and at least 20 percent of the residential parking will have EV chargers or be EV ready for chargers as demand requires.

Several duplexes and homes on Atlantic Avenue were demolished to make way for the project and land has already been cleared.

A public hearing on the development will be held on January 16.

Meantime, the southwest corner of Main and Vaughan Harvey is now home to two mixed-use towers as part of the Junction Urban Village development.