Official Fredericton, NB projects thread

[StatelyElms]

Originally Posted by StatelyElms

April's PAC agenda is out!

https://www.fredericton.ca/sites/def...0Package_0.pdf

• Cuffman Street: proposal for multi-residential and detached-residential zoning along a new public collector street (DeMerchant Drive, extended across Cuffman Street) which would connect Cuffman to Crockett. There will also be a multi-use trail from Eco Terra along the EOS zone.
• 421-423 Union Street (Saint Mary's Ferry Landing): demolition and rebuilding of 4-unit dwelling due to fire damage. Zoning amendment required for individual entrances. Less area than existing building (not wall-to-wall)
• 24 Murray Avenue: new semi-detached prefab duplex in vacant lot.
• 128-132 Forest Hill Road & 150 Turnbull Court: right-of-way expansion for new north side sidewalk
• 360-368 Forest Hill Road (Rigby Hall): amending terms & conditions to allow a take-out food service ("virtual cook house")
• 140 Clark Street: addition of new light manufacturing facility in behind current building for 12 Neighbours Community Inc., to build tiny homes.
• 20 Knowledge Park Drive: similar-use variance for new location for Office of the Superintendent and Fredericton Education Centre, to free up ~20 classrooms in the schools they are currently occupying. Contested by Ross Ventures – read April 2024 Agenda for details

Edit: as the report & package has been released more details have been provided, changes are underlined.

Updated due to release of report & package, there've been some changes (underlined). Mostly minor but there's also a Ross Ventures contestation to the Superintendent move into Knowledge Park.

[OliverD]

Construction begins on long-awaited Fredericton performing arts centre

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...173968?cmp=rss

[KnoxfordGuy]

Be a shame to lose that iconic public art on top of the Playhouse. It's very Fredericton. Iconic to the city skyline.

[FreddyGuy]

Originally Posted by StatelyElms

Updated due to release of report & package, there've been some changes (underlined). Mostly minor but there's also a Ross Ventures contestation to the Superintendent move into Knowledge Park.

Reading between the lines, looks like Ross Ventures wants to prevent the move to free up school space simply because they are missing out on the opportunity to lease the province their commercial space. Hope the PAC sees through this.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by FreddyGuy

Reading between the lines, looks like Ross Ventures wants to prevent the move to free up school space simply because they are missing out on the opportunity to lease the province their commercial space. Hope the PAC sees through this.

Did you read the letter from Ross Ventures? They specifically stated that they do not have space to lease to the province.

[FreddyGuy]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Did you read the letter from Ross Ventures? They specifically stated that they do not have space to lease to the province.

Didn't see that part but they have 44,800 sq ft available on their website alone, so I have a feeling they could come up with something.

[Freddypop]

Originally Posted by FreddyGuy

Reading between the lines, looks like Ross Ventures wants to prevent the move to free up school space simply because they are missing out on the opportunity to lease the province their commercial space. Hope the PAC sees through this.

I didn't interpret their complaint as such. My take is that they want a level playing field and certainty around the rules of engagement. Private companies, such as Ross Ventures, have a hard time competiing against government/public entities who are using tax payers $$$ to their benefit. Knowledge Park was set up to be exclusively a hub for the IT industry in the City. The Deptartment of Education proposal to locate their knowledge based educational training is a stretch at best to meet the Knowledge Park minimum rules for acceptance. The only reason that this is even being entertained is that Knowledgr Park is bleeding $$$ and are now willing to lower their standards to stem the flow of red ink. The Park is up for sale for those that might have a plan and deep pockets.

[DyAm00394]

Scrubs Plus inside Regent Mall had announced today that they are moving to the former Children's Place unit in 2 weeks. This debunks the chatter going around that both Torrid and Freak Lunchbox will possibly be taking this spot.

[Taeolas]

Sunday service coming in June

A bit later than hoped for, but good to see it finally happening.

They claim "4 transfer points" but I'd argue Corbet and Regent are effectively the same one (granted you can't get off at Regent and get on at Corbett so I guess that's different).

It'll be interesting to see how this service bleeds into the M-F/Saturday service in the future, as they're using Sunday service to experiment with Northside only and Southside only routes, with a linking cross-town route.

I would hope they eventually move the Northside transfer point up to the 2NC smart centre; but Maple isn't a bad spot; it does mean the Main/union street route won't need to go all the way up the hill.

Sunday Transit will follow a similar service coverage area to Saturday service. However, it will feature the Fredericton Crosstown Route, which is a direct passageway that services the north and south corridor with high use areas like the Regent Mall and university campuses. The Crosstown Route includes four transfer points: Maple and St. Mary’s streets, Kings Place, the Regent Mall, and the Corbett Centre.

[Taeolas]

Capital Construction Projects for 2024

The Roundabout for this year is up at the top end of Brookside, at Killarny Lake.

Main Street near Sunset Drive is also going to get a major overhaul with closure for most of the summer.

Regent Street is going to be closed again for more work near George Street.

Northumberland is also seeing some work going on.

And there are a few other projects happening.

So it will be another busy season this year. Losing Regent again for most of hte summer is going to be rough, especially with Brunswick being crippled too, but I guess we'll work around it.

[OliverD]

Noticed there is site prep happening on north side of Bishop Drive between Acorn and Avonlea. There was an item that went to PAC a couple years ago for a single story office building at this location; not sure if that is still the plan for this lot.

[Franco401]

City has announced that the new Sunday bus service will be starting June 23. They will be using Sundays to pilot new routes.

Images from CBC article:




The green line indicates a Crosstown route which uses parts of the existing 16/17 on the southside and 14/15 on the northside but in the opposite direction. The real change is on the northside, where the brown and orange lines indicate parts of 10/11, 12/13, 14/15 and 16/17 are strung together to create northside-only routes interchanging at the north end of the bridge. This is a complete game-changer for northside transit users. There are some positive changes for southside users as well, including having the 14N (red) stop at the Regent Mall and having 116 start at the Corbett Centre instead of the mall, eliminating the confusion with 16N.

[KnoxfordGuy]

Fredericton April 21st from the sky!

[StatelyElms]

Super cool!

Aside from the actual city, it's interesting to see how flooded Neil's Flats are currently and just how much clearer the Nashwaak is than the St. John/Wolastoq..

[Bishop2047]

Great photo. I love Odell Park and this really highlights how large it is.

Dates have been released for Princess Margret Re-Resurfacing: May 10th - June 13th. The plan is for it to be closed for the entirety of the 35 days.

[KnoxfordGuy]

Picture of the Hanwell Rd. area April 21st. Gives a good perspective of the future development nodes.

[OliverD]

Nice view of the progress on the first phase of the Serenity Lane development.

That's also a very large area that they cleared between Nissan and Volkswagen on Bishop.

[NB_ExistsToo]

I see a kiosk called Mr. Pretzels has opened in Regent Mall in the food court area. I walked by but was in too much of a rush to try them out.

https://www.mrpretzels.ca/

[Taeolas]

So, Pizza Street is getting another pie place. Salvatore Pizza is apparently setting up in the Money Mart location under Dooley's next to KFC. They are supposed to be opening soon.

On Main Street alone, this makes:
* Half Cut
* Greco
* Pizza Pizza
* Dominos
* Pizza Hut
* Little Ceasars
* Papa Johns
* Fadis
* New England Pizza (on Union)

Not counting the ones off of Union like Jack's, Gisele's, Pizza Delight, Pizza Twice, Pizza Shack, etc...

You'd think we'd ahve reached saturation, but I guess the BMO Minimall doesn't have a pizza place yet.

No word on a South side location, but I wouldn't be surprised if one pops open there soon as well, like happened wiht Pizza Pizza.


In other news, with Metro rumoured to be coming to Moncton, it's a safe assumption SJ and Freddy will get stores as well. the thing is, Sobeys and Superstore have the city pretty well covered. Where might a Metro grocery store enter the Freddy market at?

The main commercial areas are pretty full or already have grocers; 2NC, Brookside, Main, Prospect, downtown, etc... I think if Metro were to come in, their best location might be to look more towards the Vanier Highway, like where Co-op is. Setting up along Knowledge Park Drive near the Vanier Highway might be a good nexus to spur development.

The other possibility I could think of would be to look along Bishop, maybe in the big empty space across from the roundabout intersection.

I don't see them setting up on the Northside for an initial forray into Freddy.

[OliverD]

Across from the roundabout are provincially designated wetlands, nothing will be going there.