Official Fredericton, NB projects thread

[Franco401]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

A draft parking master plan has been released by the city outlining the parking concerns and ideas for the next decade or so.

I'm just skimming over it, but one thing they highlighted is a need for a new (or expanded) parking garage in the near-immediate future. One suggestion is to rebuild the Kings Place garage and make sure it has more slots than Kings Place is looking for. Basically the plan is suggesting we need at least 100 parking spots in the short term to match current needs.

Another element they are pointing out is how the NB Government is the biggest parking user who basically gives out free parking passes, making it harder for the city to recoup the parking costs. Government use is also spilling over into residential streets around the legislature, causing issues there as well.

Maybe they should tear down Centennial building and put up a parking garage? (No not a serious suggestion. )

Barely a word in there about reducing car-dependency, or the inevitable induced demand brought on by increasing capacity. Less and less reason all the time to listen to any municipal infrastructure report by any consulting firm.

[shazapple]

Originally Posted by Franco401

Barely a word in there about reducing car-dependency, or the inevitable induced demand brought on by increasing capacity. Less and less reason all the time to listen to any municipal infrastructure report by any consulting firm.

To be fair, they do have a series of other plans that are referenced in this study. Reducing car-dependency is a huge topic that would need all these components and more. There is mention in this study of a Transportation master plan, so here's hoping that is what they are building towards.

[trev71]

just got an email stating that WestJet begins early morning flights to Toronto at 6am this summer from YFC. This might pick up and make Air Canada wake up and bring back their early morning flights

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by trev71

just got an email stating that WestJet begins early morning flights to Toronto at 6am this summer from YFC. This might pick up and make Air Canada wake up and bring back their early morning flights

Is this a rescheduling of their current flights or is it an additional flight?

[Taeolas]

Originally Posted by shazapple

To be fair, they do have a series of other plans that are referenced in this study. Reducing car-dependency is a huge topic that would need all these components and more. There is mention in this study of a Transportation master plan, so here's hoping that is what they are building towards.

In the summary (which admittedly was the only part I've gotten through) they did acknowledge that the Fredericton commuter base is very car-focused and that is unlikely to change significantly in the next 10 years. The report basically acknowledges the realities that are instead of trying to focus on a wishful scenario.

Still the report also does say that there should be more focus to shift use to other means of transportation (focused on with other master plans that were generated), but those shifts will take time to happen and we need to do some car-focused improvements now for the betterment of the city.

Part of the report as well is seeking to improve the parking data gathering in the city, so they have a better sense of how the parking is used and to give the city more levers to control and adjust the parking plans for the future. They did distinguish between irregular users (lunch time crowd, people going down town for banking) vs the regular users (commuters); I'm sure there are parts of the plans focused on encouraging the commuters to use other methods while keeping parking available for the short term irregular users.

[trev71]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Is this a rescheduling of their current flights or is it an additional flight?

this is their new flight schedule sorry I could not cut and paste the whole email
Fredericton to Toronto Departure 600
Toronto to Fredericton Departure 1225
Fredericton to Toronto Departure 1610
Toronto to Fredericton Departure 1955

[Bishop2047]

Originally Posted by trev71

this is their new flight schedule sorry I could not cut and paste the whole email
Fredericton to Toronto Departure 600
Toronto to Fredericton Departure 1225
Fredericton to Toronto Departure 1610
Toronto to Fredericton Departure 1955

Awesome news. That will quickly become a daily sell outand win alot of stubborn air Canada customers over. Good move WestJet.

[OliverD]

Maybe, but AC offers a quicker flight with a two class cabin and you don't have to board/unboard on the tarmac at YYZ.

[Tridus]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Maybe, but AC offers a quicker flight with a two class cabin and you don't have to board/unboard on the tarmac at YYZ.

AC is getting rid of the early morning flight, so Westjet will have no competition in the market that needs to get to TO early for business/connections.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by Tridus

AC is getting rid of the early morning flight, so Westjet will have no competition in the market that needs to get to TO early for business/connections.

WestJet can't touch AC for connections though. So while it will come in handy for some people I don't see this being a slam-dunk for WJ.

It also wouldn't surprise me at all if AC adds an early morning flight back in at some point.

[seth506]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

At the moment, we have 2 big empty spaces in the downtown core. The NBEx grounds, and the Train station area. Both are prime for development, and both would be good to decent spots for future big development. A world class convention centre is overkill, especially since we already have a decent new one right downtown (with a brand new hotel too).

I've heard that the Train Station area is contaminated land, probably from petrol/diesel from the trains. As far as I know, it is pricey to fix contaminated land in order to develop... Maybe that is why nothing has been built there since closure.

[seth506]

In small Fredericton business news...
The Blonde hair salon on Queen St has bought the old Kilburn house on Smythe St. I am sure they'll be moving in over this year, opening up a place on Queen St sometime in the near future.
There can only be so many high-end hair salons downtown, so I wonder if a restaurant or retail store will maybe end up there...

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by seth506

In small Fredericton business news...
The Blonde hair salon on Queen St has bought the old Kilburn house on Smythe St. I am sure they'll be moving in over this year, opening up a place on Queen St sometime in the near future.
There can only be so many high-end hair salons downtown, so I wonder if a restaurant or retail store will maybe end up there...

I've heard that their current building will be redeveloped.

[cj6286]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Another element they are pointing out is how the NB Government is the biggest parking user who basically gives out free parking passes, making it harder for the city to recoup the parking costs. Government use is also spilling over into residential streets around the legislature, causing issues there as well.

Actually the province leases out the market parking lot from the city, but employees do not pay for parking whatsoever. The lots beside Centennial and a few smaller ones tucked in behind some smaller GNB office-houses are owned by the gov so they would just be paying the taxes for the land. But when you have 1500+ government employees working downtown and only 800-900 parking spots, it will overflow onto the streets and garages.

[Freddypop]

Originally Posted by seth506

In small Fredericton business news...
The Blonde hair salon on Queen St has bought the old Kilburn house on Smythe St. I am sure they'll be moving in over this year, opening up a place on Queen St sometime in the near future.
There can only be so many high-end hair salons downtown, so I wonder if a restaurant or retail store will maybe end up there...

Be nice location for a restaurant

[Freddypop]

Originally Posted by seth506

I've heard that the Train Station area is contaminated land, probably from petrol/diesel from the trains. As far as I know, it is pricey to fix contaminated land in order to develop... Maybe that is why nothing has been built there since closure.

Not contaminated. That rumour is FALSE! Irving owns or owned the land. They wanted to put up a large office complex on that property but couldn't find a tenant. Came close a couple of times but pending deals fell through. They have decided to divest themselves of the property, I'm assuming to concentrate their efforts elsewhere ie downtown

[shazapple]

Originally Posted by cj6286

Actually the province leases out the market parking lot from the city, but employees do not pay for parking whatsoever. The lots beside Centennial and a few smaller ones tucked in behind some smaller GNB office-houses are owned by the gov so they would just be paying the taxes for the land. But when you have 1500+ government employees working downtown and only 800-900 parking spots, it will overflow onto the streets and garages.

Yup, the 'free' parking the province hands out only applies to their lots. There are a couple spots in the parking garages, but the province would be paying the city for those as well. If anything the city is benefiting from the overflow having to use transit and pay for parking.

It's a great idea to offer transit passes instead of parking pass, but I bet the province would be hesitant because a) it cost them money and b) they would probably feel the need to offer it to all employees, which quickly gets complicated/costly.

[OliverD]

Well you don't have to offer it to all of them. Give them the choice of a parking space or a bus pass.

[Taeolas]

Or have a parking/transit budget and allocate 85$/employee/month (for Fredericton, different rates for workers in SJ or Moncton) for parking, and workers can use it to either get a monthly bus pass, or to offset the cost of buying a monthly parking permit if they can find one. (Costs adjusted based on the monthly transit rate of the city).

[starburns42]

Which should happen first?
Higher parking rates which would force people to take the transit or
Transit improvements (includes bus/uber/car sharing/bike infrastructure/etc) to encourage people to leave their cars at home?