Conservation group wants ecological buffer at site leased to Costco
Published Tuesday October 27th, 2009
Tour | Friends of UNB Woodlot have concerns about wetlands
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By DON MACPHERSON
macpherson.don@dailygleaner.com
Members and associates of the Friends of the UNB Woodlot trekked along a muddy path and over small streams to mark off the property where they feel the upcoming Costco facility is going to be constructed.
The University of New Brunswick has leased land from its woodlot near the Corbett Marsh to Costco, which is expected to set up shop on the property in 2010.
The Friends of the UNB Woodlot oppose development in the area because it's near so many wetlands and because the land was meant for educational purposes, not as a source of revenue.
Anne-Drea Allison and Jess Cusack, St. Thomas University social-work students who are doing a work placement with the woodlot-conservation group, organized Monday's event.
They said the UNB board of governors, in its land management strategy, promised the development would be at least 80 metres from the wetland.
They, along with members of the woodlot group, were in the area Monday afternoon to measure and stake off that buffer zone.
"What we're doing is demonstrating what the 80 metres looks like," Cusack said.
"We expect the University of New Brunswick to live up to their promise to protect these woodlot's wetlands with 80-metre buffers."
Allison said Monday's exercise wasn't meant as a protest but rather as a reminder to the UNB board of governors about its 80-metre promise.
Whether the 80-metre buffer as marked off by the conservation group will be respected remains to be seen.
At some points, the 80-metre zone came within just a few metres of a parking area at Home Depot in the Corbett Centre.
Allison said UNB hasn't broken its promise yet about the 80-metre buffer zone but she seemed leery of its ability to keep it.
"I would like to give UNB the benefit of the doubt as regards their woodlot practices, but UNB president Dr. Eddy Campbell has been so far unavailable to meet with us," she said.
The group said 80-metre buffers would create wildlife corridors between the larger conservation areas and increase the area of the woodlot that's being conserved.
Information about UNB's land management strategy found online states the following about the buffer zone to which the environmentalists referred Monday:
"Interim boundaries totalling 80 metres have been established as follows:
"1. Baseline Buffer located 30 metres from watercourses and wetlands as required by provincial legislation.
"2. 30-metre wide Conservation Buffer, that will allow for the protection of ecologically sensitive areas.
"3. 20-metre wide Limited Access Area to provide opportunities for 'low impact' public uses."
Whether UNB meant for all three of those different buffers to apply in all the same locations isn't clear.
Allison said she realizes there's little chance that the Costco development won't proceed, but she wishes the development would be located somewhere else that's not so close to wetlands, which serve as a natural environmental filter.
"There are other places," she said Monday afternoon.
UNB also needs to consider other methods of revenue generation than leasing woodlot land, she said.
"There are also alternatives to making money," Allison said.
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Train station project is one step closer to becoming a reality for city
Published Tuesday October 27th, 2009
Restoration | Historical building may be converted into liquor store if council and residents approve
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By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
mclaughlin.heather@dailygleaner.com
Another procedural step in the approval of the York Street train station restoration made it across the desks of city councillors Monday night.
Councillors have set Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. as the time for publicly presenting the proposed bylaw to amend the municipal plan to allow both the restoration of the former train station and to clear a path for an attached NB Liquor Corp. retail store.
J.D. Irving Ltd. struck a deal earlier this fall with the Crown corporation for a 20-year lease that will allow the front portion of the station to be retained and refurbished, while the freight storage shed attached will be demolished and replaced by a downtown liquor store.
A total of 33 conditions are attached to the development proposal, but most are technical requirements. For instance, a site grading and storm water plan and landscaping plan have to be produced. The developers must also seek confirmation from the Department of Environment that the train station site has been cleaned up of any potential contaminants, particularly petroleum products.
The city is also asking the developer to maintain a public walking path through the site and to agree to sell the city a five-metre parcel of land along Regent Street for future street widening purposes.
Still ahead for the project is a date for a public hearing of objections and first and second reading of the bylaw.
Coun. Stephen Chase was going to comment favourably on the project, but then halted his remarks. He said Monday that he wanted to respect the fact that the public hearing of objections is still ahead.
So far, however, there's been positive comments on the prospect of the train station's rehabilitation, although there was some quibbling at the planning advisory committee meeting Oct. 21 on whether the new liquor store should mimic the train station design.
Fredericton Heritage Trust president Liz Burge raised the issue of mimicking brickwork and other design elements of the train station at the meeting, but was told that has already been given the thumbs down by representatives of the federal government's Historic Sites and Monuments Board, which controls the design fate of the federally-designated heritage site.
A J.D. Irving representative said federal officers with the board have told the company they want the liquor store to have a similar theme.
But the designers are to try not to replicate the original design of the train station.
The city doesn't have authority to contradict the federal decisions about the heritage building, but it may make design suggestions as construction on the project moves forward.
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City already marketing convention centre
Published Tuesday October 27th, 2009
Construction | Convention centre expected to open in December 2010
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By DON MACPHERSON
macpherson.don@dailygleaner.com
While the city's new convention centre won't be open for business until December 2010, it's already marketing the facility to national organizations.
A construction office, at right, for the new convention centre, at left, sits where a hotel may be some day. Marketing has already begun for the building, despite the fact that it isn’t finished.
The City of Fredericton has hired someone on contract to sell the convention centre to groups outside the city as a destination for national conferences.
Cathy Pugh started as the director of sales and marketing for the Fredericton convention centre in May, and she's already drummed up interest in the facility, which is under construction.
She said Monday she's landed eight tentative bookings for conferences, set to take place between 2011 and 2013.
"No one is booked and signed with a contract," Pugh said, but she expects to have the deals finalized in about a month.
So how did these groups find out about a convention centre that doesn't really exist yet? Pugh said she's been spreading the word.
Part of her job is to travel to industry trade shows to illustrate that Fredericton is now a viable destination for national conferences, she said.
Pugh also contacts and meets with organizations that she knows are planning conferences in Atlantic Canada in the not-too distant future.
"We're trying to bring in new business to Fredericton," she said.
Most of Pugh's travels take her to Ottawa and Toronto, since that's where most associations and organizations have their national headquarters.
She said she's working to book groups now in advance of the convention centre's opening because these national conferences tend to be booked two to four years in advance.
Fredericton Tourism manager Dave Seabrook said the city has budgeted $75,000 in 2009 for marketing and sales of the convention centre, and that includes Pugh's salary, travel, promotional materials and other costs.
Greg Cook, project manager for the Fredericton convention centre and downtown office complex, said another promotional component - a logo/branding contract for the convention centre - comes under his construction budget because it will impact signage.
That contract was worth $19,250, he said, and was carried out by Fredericton design firm Orange Sprocket.
Cook said the convention centre is still on track for an opening at the end of 2010.
As for the office building, he said, the schedule is really tight. Frequent and abundant rain has slowed that aspect of the project, Cook said.
"It's not helping any," he said, noting that if there's a lot of snow this winter, "It'll definitely impact us."
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Meeting about Limerick Road property to be held Wednesday
Published Tuesday October 27th, 2009
A6
By The Daily Gleaner
Avi Friedman, co-founder of the Affordable Homes Program at the McGill School of Architecture in Montreal, will unveil plans for a proposed residential development in Southwood Park during a public meeting Wednesday at the Bliss Carman Middle School on Kimble Drive.
Friedman, whose consulting firm has already worked on several affordable housing projects in Fredericton, will present a series of options with different site plans and housing configurations for the 1.6-hectare property on Limerick Road.
The development features up to 107 units consisting of two-bedroom single family rowhouses, one and two-bedroom triplexes, and apartments.
Approximately 20-25 per cent of the units provided for the development will become affordable housing.
The two-hour meeting, organized by the city's development services department, will begin at 7 p.m. and will be of interest to both residents and the city's development community.
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