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Old Posted Jul 28, 2010, 10:34 PM
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New Shediac jail progresses, expected to open next year
Published Wednesday July 28th, 2010

But city, developers anxious for Moncton jail property to be available
By James Foster
Times & Transcript Staff

SHEDIAC - Work is on schedule at the site of the new provincial jail being built here, but there's still no word on when Moncton might find itself with a prime piece of jail-free real estate in its downtown.


GREG AGNEW/TIMES & TRANSCRIPTThe New Brunswick government awarded the main contract for construction of the Southeast Correctional Centre to Maricon Construction Management Ltd.

Moncton City Hall and private developers have been anxious to learn when the key property on which the Moncton Detention Centre sits will become available for development. They'll have to wait a little longer to find out, say officials and politicians attending yesterday's awarding of the main contract for the Southeast Correctional Centre that is now being built here.

Minister of Business New Brunswick Victor Boudreau said once the new jail opens here next year, the fate of the Moncton facility will be up to the Department of Supply and Services (DSS).

"It will be up to them after that," Boudreau said.

Most likely, the prime downtown Moncton property would be offered to the City of Moncton or put on the market.

There is no firm date set yet for that process to begin.

The main contract for construction of the Shediac jail was awarded officially yesterday to Maricon Construction of Saint John. The job is worth $23 million.

"This important investment will ensure that the province meets a critical infrastructure need in our provincial correctional system while creating hundreds of construction jobs," Boudreau said after having a look at the construction activity.

Boudreau was speaking on behalf of Supply and Services Minister Ed Doherty.

The centre will cover 8,820 square metres, or 98,000 square feet, and will feature three accommodation units, each containing 30 cells for a total occupancy of about 150 inmates compared to the Moncton jail's capacity of 58 guests, though there are always more inmates housed there than that.

The new Shediac facility, located on Ohio Road, which borders the four-lane Moncton-to-Shediac Highway 15 (Veterans' Highway), will also include areas for admitting and discharging prisoners, medical services, program rooms, secure visitation, food services and facilities for administration and staff.

With a new jail also being built in Dalhousie, New Brunswick's capacity to house inmates will rise to 500 from today's 364.

The new jail in Dalhousie will be 3,857 square metres, or 41,519 square feet, with five accommodation units boasting 10 cells each.

Shediac Mayor Raymond Cormier has said all along that the new jail not only boosts the town's tax base by at least $700,000, but opens up many acres of land to development. The Lino Road has been a dirt service road, but it's now being chipsealed and the town and province have partnered to extend water and sewer services to that formerly unserviced area, making it ripe for future development.

Officials in Moncton have been equally eager to see the Moncton Detention Centre shut down, as it is in an area of the downtown primed for development - right behind Assomption Place and Hotel Delta Beauséjour amid a large ground-level parking area and next door to the new justice centre and courthouse now under construction.

Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc has described it as "a key piece of the downtown core and a vibrant downtown is one of our priorities, so we would be looking for a way to make that fit in with future downtown development and a way to use that property in a way that promotes vibrancy and prosperity downtown, but we don't have specific plans at this time."

Moncton's detention centre was built in the 1960s as a police station and became a jail when the police moved into a new building, the current home of the Codiac Regional RCMP, on Main Street in 1980.

Typically, when a government building is vacated, DSS inspects it and puts a value on it. If no other provincial government department can use it, it would typically be offered to the municipality. If the city declines the offer, it would then likely be put on the open market.

Shediac's new facility will look more like a modern high school than what most people think of as a jail. It sits on a 62-acre (24-hectare) parcel of land, well back from the road so it is barely visible by passersby. The closest building to it is a campground approximately one kilometre (or about one-sixth of a mile) away.

Inmates there will be serving sentences of less than two years or those who are on remand, awaiting court proceedings.

While the new jail is in Boudreau's riding, the provincial government says Lino Road is superior to a site that was considered in the Moncton Industrial Park because it is conveniently close to the four-lane highway making the drive to the Moncton courthouse only slightly longer than the industrial park site.

Personal note: Granted, the new jail is only about a 20 minute drive from the new courthouse in downtown Moncton but that's in good driving weather. I'm sure there will be days in the wintertime that will make driving treacherous and court dates could be delayed. I still think the facility should have been built closer to the urban core.

Here's a thought........why didn't they build it in the Scoudouc Industrial Park. With the new interchange under construction, that would have been less than 15 minutes from downtown and likely still would have been in Victor Boudreau's constituency!
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