The Official Moncton, NB Project Thread

[Sunnybrae]

I hope Riverview can get some retail, we need it and I think the population can support it.

Also, a foundation has been put down on Whitepine in Riverview where the new apartment buildings were built in Findley park. That will bring that apartment complex to three buildings total.

I have also noticed that marsh grass is starting to take hold on the mud flats where the lake use to be by the causeway.

[MonctonRad]

I have also noticed that marsh grass is starting to take hold on the mud flats where the lake use to be by the causeway.

This will be the ultimate fate of the headpond (beyond the main river channel). The main channel can be maximized if the partial bridge replacement gets built, but only if this happens expeditiously. If they wait any longer than five years, I fear it will be too late and we will have a permanently narrowed river.

Personally, I don't necessarily see that much wrong with the majority of the headpond reverting to marshland - it makes a great wildlife habitat, I just think everyone should be clear on what is going to happen.....

If people want the widest river channel possible, they should start lobbying the government now. Otherwise, given the state of the province's finances, procrastination and delay will rule the day and the inevitable will occur.

[josh_cat_eyes]

McDonalds makes sense for the food service tenant. I can see another Tim's in Riverview because the amount of Tim's in greater Moncton. Could the Sobeys be a Co-op Atlantic or Kent building supplies?

[MonctonRad]

McDonalds makes sense for the food service tenant. I can see another Tim's in Riverview because the amount of Tim's in greater Moncton. Could the Sobeys be a Co-op Atlantic or Kent building supplies?

1- There already is a Timmies in Findlay Park.

2- Co-op might be possible, but would Sobeys actually sell the property to a direct competitor? There are already two Kent outlets in Greater Moncton. Another home improvement superstore like Rona or perhaps a Home Hardware would be a thought.

[Sony500]

1- There already is a Timmies in Findlay Park.

2- Co-op might be possible, but would Sobeys actually sell the property to a direct competitor? There are already two Kent outlets in Greater Moncton. Another home improvement superstore like Rona or perhaps a Home Hardware would be a thought.

There is already a Home Hardware in Findlay Park as well.

[MonctonRad]

There is already a Home Hardware in Findlay Park as well.

Ah yes, you're right, I forgot about that one. :)

BTW, what does everyone think about Coun. Bourgeois' new name for the denizens of Dieppe - the Diepnamese :haha::haha:

[josh_cat_eyes]

For some reason I can't see already having a homeware making a big difference to Kent (Irving) and what about a tims down near the petro-can in eastern riverview? Maybe near the future end of Bridgedale blvd.

[mylesmalley]

Ah yes, you're right, I forgot about that one. :)

BTW, what does everyone think about Coun. Bourgeois' new name for the denizens of Dieppe - the Diepnamese :haha::haha:

New name? Really? I've heard that for so long I thought it was the actual term.
Dippers doesn't seem to have nearly the same gravitas, does it?

[mmmatt]

Ottawa provides $1M for Transport Centre
Published Tuesday October 4th, 2011
Development proceeds on proposed $9.3M project
By Craig Babstock
Times & Transcript Staff

http://www.architecture2000.ca/a2000wp/wp-content/gallery/museum/2522-museumbill-zhou.jpg
source: architecture 2000 (http://www.architecture2000.ca/2010/05/moncton-museum-transportation-discovery-centre/)

For Robert Goguen, a celebration of this community's transportation heritage makes perfect sense.

"Who in Moncton doesn't have a relative who worked in the rail industry?" the Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe MP asked yesterday afternoon. "Transportation is in our DNA."

Goguen was speaking moments after a news conference in which he announced $1 million in federal funding for the Transportation Discovery Centre, which will be built onto the Moncton Museum, doubling the size of the facility from 4,500 square feet to between 9,000 and 10,000 square feet. The federal government previously contributed $500,000 to the planning of the project, which has been in the works for more than a decade, bringing its total involvement to $1.5 million.

Goguen made the announcement on behalf of Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore.

"Heritage Canada is about celebrating successes and culture," said Goguen.

The new centre will invite visitors to explore the past, present, and future of maritime, rail, road, and air transportation in the Moncton area. The new space will also allow the museum to host more exhibitions, attract more visitors each year, and improve its ability to preserve its collections.

The discovery centre will be interactive and educational while showcasing the history of transportation in this region.

The project will cost $9.3 million and the City of Moncton is contributing $6 million. Mayor George LeBlanc said they hope the province will commit $1 million to the project and a fund-raising campaign led by Wes Armour, president and CEO of Armour Transportation Systems, is also contributing to the total cost.

LeBlanc credited many people for making this centre a reality, including former mayor Lorne Mitton, whose council set the project in motion, Deputy Mayor Kathryn Barnes and Coun. Merrill Henderson who championed the project, and the CN Pensioners Association, who lobbied for such a facility from the beginning and also contributed to the fund-raising.

"They really helped push for this and get it off the ground," said the mayor, of the pensioners.

LeBlanc said transportation is part of Moncton's history and heritage and the centre will be something the city can be proud of. He added that the key will be to make the centre fun and interactive and especially appealing to young people.

"We'll be limited by only our imaginations," he said.

Drawings of the museum with the Transportation Discovery Centre constructed were on display during the announcement, and Raven Spanier, of Architecture 2000 Inc,. was also present to talk about the project. Spanier said he did the design back in 2005 and is excited to finally see it come to fruition.

"It will be one of the first discovery centres in New Brunswick," said the architect.

The most eye-catching design of the new centre is the fact the front of the building looks like a large cow catcher that would sit on the front of a train to throw obstacles off the track.

"It was perfect for a transportation centre and it was the first thing that came to mind when I designed it," said Spanier.

Construction could begin in early 2012 and is expected to take a year to complete.

[mmmatt]

Also of note the curvy glass expansion of the science building at UdeM has steel going up now.

And Gauvin Estates is on to the third floor

Today:
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/9853/photo0340a.jpg

[MonctonRad]

Also in the T&T today (although oddly not in the online edition), news that the budget review process by city council for capital works is starting for the upcoming year.

As part of the process, they extrapolate expenditures out over the next 4-5 years. In addition to the Transportation Discovery Centre that mmmatt mentioned, there was also mention of the downtown events centre (now estimated at about $104M and a new police headquarters (probably about $30M or so), both slated for construction in 2013-14.

Neither of these two projects are set in stone, but the city is at least proceding on the assumption that these projects will be built.

The next 4-5 years could be transformational for the downtown area.
1- Transportation Discovery Centre (expansion to Moncton Museum), 2012
2- Downtown Arena/Events Centre, 2013-14
3- New Codiac Regional Police HQ, 2013-14
4- At least three large downtown apartment/condo projects
5- Possible new seven storey office building at Assomption/Vaughan Harvey
6- Proposed mixed use development on Robinson Court behind the new Peace Centre.

If this all transpires, the downtown may recieve the momentum to propel it well into the future! :tup:

[Hogie75]

My guess would be A&W and maybe a Rona Store in Riverview.

[C_Boy]

Codiac Transit undergoes changes

A new name, realigned routes and improved bus access all part of changes

Allan Dearing - News StaffOct 05, 2011 10:26:27 AM



MONCTON, NB - Changes are being made at Codiac Transit.

First up a new name... the tri-communities bus system is now called Codiac Transpo.

Spokesperson Marie Claire Pierce says numerous routes have been realigned with more frequent service and at least three will become more accessible.

"On October 31st, Dieppe Express, Moncton Express and Connaught will be made more accessible with ramps on buses," notes Pierce.

Codiac Transpo is now offering 30 minute service to the casino and is offering improved service to the Hildegarde area.

Pierce adds numerous other bus routes have been realigned to allow for better service.


Edit: Too bad they can't change that ugly colour scheme.... :yuck:

[gehrhardt]

:previous:

Seriously? "Transpo"? I suppose it's better than "Codiac Tranny", even though the aforementioned colour scheme seems fitting. :koko:

Why not name it something catchy, like the "CAT" (Codiac Area Transit) with appropriate graphics? I know Bangor/Brewer has the "BAT". Heck, they can have that idea for free (on me).

Even "The Bus" would make more sense.

Stop making up words!!! Just because Ottawa does it doesn't make it right.

[kwajo]

Transpo? Seriously?

[mmmatt]

Couple notes...

1. "Transpo" is apparently more bilingual than "Transit" hence the name change. I don't mind it but I agree with C_Boy, I wish there was a color change that came along with it! Pink and Purple?? C'mon people :haha:

Kwajo: The transit/transpo is kind of irrelevant anyway because their logo is just "codiac" most people will probably never know it was changed.

http://www.codiactranspo.ca/Sites/8/templates/images/COM/codiaclogo.gif
source: "codiac transpo" (http://www.codiactranspo.ca/Home.htm)

2. Found a site with the plans for the new Energy Center U/C @ the Dumont Hospital. They had no nice 3d drawings or anything really interesting to post, however they did show there will be a large ventilation stack included in on the site (as it will house the heading boilers for the entire hospital complex). It will be at least twice as tall as the roof of the building. If nothing else it will add a degree of symmetry with the stack of UdeMs boiler across the highway :P

3. The steel going up for the theater expansion is quite large so far, and taller than the old building.

Dug up this blurb from the builders (Marco):

"This project involves a complete renovation of the existing 2 030 square meter facility and the construction of a 2 170 square meter addition. SIx of the existing cinemas will be demolished and replaced with three completely new ones and an expanded, self-serve concessions area. The existing concessions area will be replaced with another modernized, cinema, and all remaining cinemas will receive upgrades. When complete, the entire facility will feature 8 movie screens and stadium seating for 1 596 guests. The exterior will involve a large quantity of aluminum curtain wall combined with aluminum entrances, precast concrete wall panels, metal siding, and composite aluminum panels. Work also includes all interior finishes, complete plumbing, electrical, and ventilation systems, as well as the installation of owner supplied seating, projection equipment, and interior / exterior signage."


So they will be doing a complete re-build of the exterior which is great news as the blue paint and signage was quite faded.

It should be in their new style which is quite modern and attractive.

Example1 (rendering from unknown location)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u-_oGpymoR8/TdP1Ajtma6I/AAAAAAAAG5A/2LumY3ITLSU/s1600/MarketSaw_004%2BMay.%2B18%2B13.33.jpg
source: marketsaw (http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2011/05/empire-theatres-introducing-empire.html)

Example2 Waterloo, ON (This is the first theater to have Empire Extra)
http://www.traugott.com/images/gallery/gallery_6_photo_224_large.jpg
source: traugott (http://www.traugott.com/gallery/show/theatre/page/1/photo/224.html#skip_to_thumbs)

[mylesmalley]

If the final design looks anything like those, the whole area will look significantly better.

Although to be fair, anything would be an improvement considering Empire had no façade at all before now.

[Wishblade]

That first example is almost certainly the Empire at Dartmouth Crossing.

[mmmatt]

If the final design looks anything like those, the whole area will look significantly better.

Although to be fair, anything would be an improvement considering Empire had no façade at all before now.

True, and for two reasons that is great

1. It is basically the only part of the whole crystal palace/champlain mall complex that looked really bad

2. It is situated prominently at one of the primary, and most visually interesting entrances to the city (coming from shediac/north NB into town on the 15)

[MonctonRad]

It would be great if the new facade for the Crystal Palace Empire Theatre ends up looking like the theatre at Dartmouth Crossing.

We do know that in the redesign of this theatre, that the new main entrance will face the outside, rather than on the internal concourse of Crystal Palace. It would be nice to know if they will also maintain an internal entrance to the theatre as well. The theatre complements the amusement park as well as the Chapters/Starbucks and the hotel really well. I think something would be lost if there was not also an internal entrance, especially in the wintertime......

[mmmatt]

It would be unthinkable to remove the interior entrance entirely...it would be very shortsighted on their part...like you said the "main" entrance should be outside, but there must certainly be a secondary one inside...This way capitalizing on folks who are staying at the hotel or are at the amusement park for the day...as well as those just popping in for a movie.

[NBNYer]

Also in the T&T today (although oddly not in the online edition), news that the budget review process by city council for capital works is starting for the upcoming year.

As part of the process, they extrapolate expenditures out over the next 4-5 years. In addition to the Transportation Discovery Centre that mmmatt mentioned, there was also mention of the downtown events centre (now estimated at about $104M and a new police headquarters (probably about $30M or so), both slated for construction in 2013-14.

Neither of these two projects are set in stone, but the city is at least proceding on the assumption that these projects will be built.

The next 4-5 years could be transformational for the downtown area.
1- Transportation Discovery Centre (expansion to Moncton Museum), 2012
2- Downtown Arena/Events Centre, 2013-14
3- New Codiac Regional Police HQ, 2013-14
4- At least three large downtown apartment/condo projects
5- Possible new seven storey office building at Assomption/Vaughan Harvey
6- Proposed mixed use development on Robinson Court behind the new Peace Centre.

If this all transpires, the downtown may recieve the momentum to propel it well into the future! :tup:


Didn't know about the new police HQ. Is this news or just a longstanding stale rumor? A nice shiny new HQ building along Assumption would look great on the Marriott block. :banana:

[MonctonRad]

:previous:

The old police HQ at the corner of Assomption & Main is crowded and is in increasing disrepair. It was built for a much smaller city police force than the current Codiac Regional RCMP. A replacement is necessary and has been talked about for several years......

The fly in the ointment is the fact that Moncton still does not have the federal RCMP subsidy that every other jurisdiction in the country gets. Because of this, the city continually threatens to give the RCMP the boot and re-establish the old Moncton City Police Force. If the city were ever to do this, the older smaller police HQ might suffice. I don't think we will absolutely see any action on a new HQ building until this issue is resolved.

My pick for a new location for the police HQ (assuming the events centre is built at Highfield) would be where the current provincial jail is on Assomption. It's right next to the new courthouse and there would certainly be some synergy by having these two buildings side-by-side.

[josh_cat_eyes]

:previous:

The old police HQ at the corner of Assomption & Main is crowded and is in increasing disrepair. It was built for a much smaller city police force than the current Codiac Regional RCMP. A replacement is necessary and has been talked about for several years......

The fly in the ointment is the fact that Moncton still does not have the federal RCMP subsidy that every other jurisdiction in the country gets. Because of this, the city continually threatens to give the RCMP the boot and re-establish the old Moncton City Police Force. If the city were ever to do this, the older smaller police HQ might suffice. I don't think we will absolutely see any action on a new HQ building until this issue is resolved.

My pick for a new location for the police HQ (assuming the events centre is built at Highfield) would be where the current provincial jail is on Assomption. It's right next to the new courthouse and there would certainly be some synergy by having these two buildings side-by-side.

Well the best idea would have been to build the Police station, courthouse AND jail all on the same block. But that is too much of a good idea. I bet they will build the new Police station in Hillsborough.

[mmmatt]

Couple shots of info:

1. Former home of Mitsubishi Moncton on Main st. has been sold...I think to a car parts store which will be moving from the bottom of King st.

2. The former Acadian Bus Lines station/lot on Main st. has also been sold...makes me wonder if the purchaser knows something we don't i.e. that the lot across the street will suddenly increase in value? Perhaps it was purchased in hopes of that, and the buyer will wait it out. Either way Im hoping the lot will be redeveloped in some way as it is currently 15% 1 floor ugly building and 85% dirt parking lot haha.

3. I was at Ashfords HQ on cameron the other day and they told me they are still involved with Mapleton Power Center. And as of the past few days there is FINALLY some activity on the site again with big city builders PCL Construction taking the helm.

[MonctonRad]

Well the best idea would have been to build the Police station, courthouse AND jail all on the same block. But that is too much of a good idea. I bet they will build the new Police station in Hillsborough.

Well, since the new courthouse is in Moncton and the new jail is in Shediac, I guess that in some ersatz egalitarian alternate universe it might make some sense to put the Codiac RCMP HQ in Hillsborough. :haha:

I know you're being facetious though......


2. The former Acadian Bus Lines station/lot on Main st. has also been sold...makes me wonder if the purchaser knows something we don't i.e. that the lot across the street will suddenly increase in value? Perhaps it was purchased in hopes of that, and the buyer will wait it out.

Well, since the city is proceding on the assumption that the events centre will be built in 2013/14 and since Highfield is the odds on favourite for it's location, perhaps you're right! :yes:


3. I was at Ashfords HQ on cameron the other day and they told me they are still involved with Mapleton Power Center. And as of the past few days there is FINALLY some activity on the site again with big city builders PCL Construction taking the helm.

Here's hoping. :tup:

From the sounds of the article in the paper a couple of weeks ago, it sounds like they will be tearing most of what is there out and starting fresh. Perhaps the demolition phase will be this fall/winter and they will start construction in the spring.....

[MonctonRad]

Here are a few renders for the proposed new Fine & Performing Arts Centre to be built at Mount Allison University. This is a $30M project that will be opened in 2014.

http://www.mta.ca/fpac/images/lg/birsdeye.jpg
Aerial perspective

http://www.mta.ca/fpac/images/lg/2011-04-29-mta-exterior.jpg
street view

http://www.mta.ca/fpac/images/lg/34.jpg
adjacent outdoor performance space fronting on the quad, which will incorporate elements from the existing Memorial Library which is to be demolished to allow for construction.

The final legal hurdle against construction of this new building has now been cleared as Mr. Justice George Rideout failed to declare an injunction against this project. This project is a definite go. Demolition of the old Memorial Library will likely begin in the next couple of weeks.

[macas539]

Second Cup at Mountain n Gorge rd is open now! Just went there this morning.

[Sunnybrae]

[QUOTE=mmmatt;5436568]Couple shots of info:

1. Former home of Mitsubishi Moncton on Main st. has been sold...I think to a car parts store which will be moving from the bottom of King st.

I had heard that it was going to be Miller Tirecraft.

[MonctonRad]

This is a photo I took today showing the new "rip-rap" that they are installing along the north bank of the Petitcodiac River in front of the Rogers HQ building in order to prevent any further erosion along the riverfront.

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z411/MonctonRad/Snapbucket/Moncton%20Construction%202011/7b275038.jpg

They seem to be quite proactive here. There is still several feet of riverbank still present between the Pogers parking lot and the river. Perhaps they expect significant erosion this winter.....

[David_99]

This is a photo I took today showing the new "rip-rap" that they are installing along the north bank of the Petitcodiac River in front of the Rogers HQ building in order to prevent any further erosion along the riverfront.

Nice! Hey does anyone know where I could find recent photos of the river, comparing "before and after" the gates opened? It'd be nice to see how much it's widened in a year and a half. Aerial or otherwise. I figured the river keeper site would have up to date photos, but nothing yet.

Cheers!

[mylesmalley]

Hard to say. Maybe Google will update their aerial photos to replace the 10 year old stuff they've got up now.

[MonctonRad]

Nice! Hey does anyone know where I could find recent photos of the river, comparing "before and after" the gates opened? It'd be nice to see how much it's widened in a year and a half. Aerial or otherwise. I figured the river keeper site would have up to date photos, but nothing yet!

Although the river channel is undoubtedly wider than before the opening of the causeway gates, I am more impressed with the new depth of the channel (especially just below the causeway) and also the increased vigour of the current. There are almost rapids now at the causeway gates!

The channel will remain constricted until the causeway is removed and replaced with a partial bridge. Still, if I were to guess, I would say that the channel is probably about 50% wider than before the opening of the gates. Comparative photos would be really nice. :yes:

[benvui]

If anyone is interested there was a study done by a graduate student at UNB on the erosion of the banks. The study was started before the gates were opened and ended in the fall of 2010 (only a few months after the gates were opened) and submitted last month. If you read the report it talks about how fast the banks are eroding away. I skipped to the end but it was a very interesting read none the less.
http://dspace.hil.unb.ca:8080/bitstream/handle/1882/35384/Mark_Wojda_MScE%20_2011.pdf?sequence=1

[brod3211]

There is a Cajun and a African restaurant opening up on St. George, right next to or near the Red Satay.

[curious]

I was at HBC and the sales person said that the owner of HBC was there with his realtor and lawyer???? who knows what will happen? where would HBC go?

[MonctonRad]

:previous:

I would say that this definitely falls within the realm of an "unsubstantiated rumour"

The vultures are certainly circling Highfield Square, but what this means for the future of the Bay is uncertain.

If Highfield is chosen for the new events centre, the Bay could close for good (which is a possibility since it is an underperforming store in a small market and the Bay has already closed their west end store in Halifax), but I would like to think that they would just move elsewhere. The big question is where? The only possibility would be if WalMart left Champlain to build a new superstore elsewhere in the city, but apparently WalMart likes it at Champlain.

There are retail areas in development on Mapleton Road, in Findlay Park and possibly off Harrisville Blvd, but these all are big box type developments and not traditional shopping malls. I don't think the Bay would find these appealing.

I wouldn't write the Bay off yet, but the future of this retailing icon in the city seems a little ominous. It would be nice to think that the Bay could carry on in it's current location and be incorporated in some way with the new events centre. We shall see.

[MonctonRad]

Abridged from today's T&T

Moncton begins legwork on modern fire station
Published Wednesday October 12th, 2011

Aging McLaughlin Drive station will be replaced with new facility in new location
BY BRENT MAZEROLLE
TIMES & Transcript Staff

Construction of a new fire hall in the northeast end of Moncton to replace the aged and poorly located McLaughlin Drive fire station has taken a significant step forward.

Ahead of deliberating the City of Moncton's 2012 capital works budget this evening, Moncton city council has already voted to get plans under way for a new fire station to replace what is the city's oldest.

Designing of the estimated $1.2-million facility will take place over the winter, with construction planned for next spring.

The current fire hall turns 50 next year and it is well past its prime. A better understanding of how fire stations should be located has also evolved in the past five decades, and the McLaughlin station fails on a few counts.

With Moncton's largest cemetery across the street, a wooded patch of the Université de Moncton campus at its back, and no access to the Trans-Canada Highway from McLaughlin, the station is not as well placed as it would be on Elmwood Drive, especially for calls out to Caledonia Industrial Estates, to highway accidents or properties near the northeastern boundaries of the city, where a planned new high school seems certain to spur further growth.

The city has made it clear for some time now that a new station would be placed somewhere to give it better 360-degree coverage, and that spot is probably somewhere on Elmwood Drive further to the north than where the McLaughlin station stands today.

No land has been acquired yet.

In the meantime, because the new Botsford Street fire station is better located to respond to calls in the Lewisville area, the McLaughlin station can move further north without affecting response times to places off Mill Road or Shediac Road.

The new facility is proposed to be the first city-owned building with a LEED certification, LEED an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

It will be a relatively small station compared to recent constructions like Hildegarde and even Botsford Street, the latter a relatively compact site but still containing the department's administrative offices. It will be a single-storey, three-bay station with room to house four firefighters per shift, plus storage and equipment rooms.

the rumour is that the new station will be built on Elmwood Drive, to the north of the TCH, near the entrance to Caledonia Industrial Park.

[mylesmalley]

Methinks the city is trying to justify the inevitable improvements needed to Elmwood up to Royal Oaks by putting more services there. As far as geography is concerned, wouldn't it make more sense to put it near Harrisville? That way the East end could be equally served by Botsford and the new one, and the areas in the far reaches of Dieppe will get considerably better coverage.

[JHikka]

Methinks the city is trying to justify the inevitable improvements needed to Elmwood up to Royal Oaks by putting more services there.

It's good to have fire stations near high schools. ;) :haha:

[kwajo]

At this rate it is only a matter of time before the whole City of Moncton moves itself north of the TCH :haha:

[MonctonRad]

At this rate it is only a matter of time before the whole City of Moncton moves itself north of the TCH :haha:

It's rather sad really. I distinctly remember several years ago a statement by a city official, when they were first talking about the "vision lands" project, about the importance of containing growth to the south side of the TCH. Despite this, there is worsening sprawl creeping to the north, especially around the Gorge Road and Elmwood Drive areas.

Around Gorge/Magnetic Hill you have the Mountain Woods subdivision, Crandall University, the Magnetic Hill Zoo, Concert Site and Golf Course as well as the Magic Mountain Water Park.

Along Elmwood (north of the TCH) you have Caledonia Industrial Park, the Pine Acres minihome development (which is quite large) and the Royal Oaks Golf Course and subdivision. Soon there will be a new high school in the neighbourhood which will spur even more development.

Finally, the northwest end of the city is bounded by the abomination of the disgustingly large Rural Estates subdivision, with average lot sizes of 2-3 acres. The houses are so far apart they all have individual wells and the subdivision roads are all rutted and without curbs and are bounded by drainage ditches. Talk about an unsustainable model for urban growth!!!!

The net result of all this is needless sprawl!!

Now, I'm personally a suburbanite and I like my double lot but almost all my neighbours have single lots and my subdivision has at least moderate density which contributes to a sense of urbanity. I can walk to some neighbourhood services and restaurants. The northwest end where I live has been infilling for the last 20 years and this is a good thing.

Developments north of the TCH however are linear and do not contribute to infill. Rural Estates will never have the density necessary to build a sense of community. The car culture will reign supreme!

Before additional development occurs north of the TCH, more should be done to promote infill to the south, especially in and around the "Vision Lands". Mistakes like the Rural Estates subdivision should never be allowed to happen again.

Dense urban environments (even in the absence of highrises) are more economically sustainable and efficient. We need more of this in Moncton. :yes:

[Sunnybrae]

:previous:

It is my opinion that the Caledonia Industrial Park is the main driving force for development north of the TCH (large labour force). If I worked there, I would live out Elmwood Drive.

[MonctonRad]

:previous:

Granted, and I can see this but if development does occur north of the TCH, it should at least be contiguous to existing built up areas. Royal Oaks is at least 3km beyond the TCH and there is lots of underdeveloped land in between.

At least along Gorge, the Mountain Woods subdivision is near the TCH and immediately across the street from Crandall University. That's not nearly so bad.

My biggest hate-on is for Rural Estates. I really dislike that development!! :hell:

[mylesmalley]

Amen to that, MonctonRad

[kwajo]

:previous:

Granted, and I can see this but if development does occur north of the TCH, it should at least be contiguous to existing built up areas. Royal Oaks is at least 3km beyond the TCH and there is lots of underdeveloped land in between.

At least along Gorge, the Mountain Woods subdivision is near the TCH and immediately across the street from Crandall University. That's not nearly so bad.

My biggest hate-on is for Rural Estates. I really dislike that development!! :hell:
We have several developments like that in SJ from the past 10-20 years, a practice that is only now being stopped by the city. Has Moncton ever mentioned doing anything like having large minimum lot sizes in rural areas of the city? For example if you make the minimum lot size something like 15 acres then that means you can't build any sort of sprawling subdivision because lots that large essentially only allow for the very occasional single family home along existing roads.

[MonctonRad]

:previous:

A friend of mine lives on Timberline Road (at the top of Lutes Mountain) and they have a spectacular view of the city lights at night from that elevation. There are a number of $1M homes up there. Anyway, my friend told me there was a plan to extend the subdivision further along the ridge with the average lot size for the subdivision being around 2-3 acres (think Rural Estates with a view :haha:). The city came back stating that since the area was unserviced, the lot size would have to be 12-15 acres. That put the kibosh to that idea pretty quickly.

This could be similar to what happened in SJ. I think this proposal happened some time after the Rural Estates fiasco and perhaps the city didn't want to repeat the same mistake again.......

[MonctonRad]

Abridged from today's T&T

Moncton passes capital works budget
Published Thursday October 13th, 2011

Events centre, police station upgrade, roundabout are hot topics
BY BRENT MAZEROLLE
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF

Moncton city council has approved a $38-million capital works budget for 2012 that includes money to potentially start two major municipal projects - a downtown events centre and an expansion to the police station.

The budget also has money to complete a much smaller project long delayed, a traffic roundabout that would link Russ Howard Drive from the CN Sportsplex lands to the web of intersections at Killam, Collishaw, Purdy, and Waverley Streets.

The municipal taxes of Moncton residents will actually only be committed to about $23 million of that $38 million, as the rest will come back to the city through various cost-sharing programs with the provincial and federal governments.

For those in need of a refresher course in municipal capital works budgeting, approving the budget last night meant only that council has approved approaching the province's municipal capital borrowing board for a certain amount of money to pursue certain project goals.

They are not committed in anything more than principle to any of the dozens of projects they approved until the day comes when they vote on each eventual contract.

Ahead of this year's budget process, council had instructed staff to come up with a budget within the $38 million they had projected for 2012 when they were doing the 2011 budget a year ago.

To accommodate among other things the expenses of upgrading Ryan Road, something that suddenly became urgent a few years ago with the province's decision to build Northrop Frye School on the sub-par roadway, city staff recommended delaying the Killam roundabout until 2017, on the assumption it was less urgent than many other city projects.

"We'd like to get that roundabout in," city engineer Jack MacDonald told council, "but with kids walking on Ryan Road..."

That wasn't good enough for many councillors, who noted the roundabout has already been delayed six years by the need to divert funds to other major projects like Mapleton Road and the Vaughan Harvey/Assumption Boulevard extensions.

Expressing frustration that the provincial government has again left the city with another urgent project looming, the need to upgrade Elmwood Drive in light of the recent provincial decision to build the new Moncton High School at Royal Oaks, councillors nevertheless wanted to forge ahead with one of their plans instead of always reacting to ones thrust upon them, as Deputy Mayor Kathryn Barnes put it.

"It really irks me we can't do the things we want to do," she said, supporting her Ward 3 colleague Daniel Bourgeois' assertion it was time to deliver on the roundabout.

Ward 3's Brian Hicks, who said his daily travels on the Horsman Road roundabout have converted him after he initially opposed the one proposed for Killam, joined in support, as did Ward 2's Merrill Henderson.

"We created an expectation we were going to do this," he said, referring to the public consultations on the roundabout the city held a half-dozen years ago and arguing it was time to move.

Council ultimately voted in support of amending the budget to include the roundabout, with dissenting votes from Mayor George LeBlanc, who noted adding the item flew in the face of the directions staff was given to work within a set dollar value, and from Ward 4 councillor Paul Pellerin.

There was less talk than some might have expected about financing a new downtown events centre with its estimated $104-million price tag, but it's not surprising if you remember the $2 million set aside in the 2012 capital works budget and the roughly $48 million and $50 million pencilled into the five-year projections for 2013 and 2014 is all moot if the city doesn't get the financial support it needs from the federal and provincial governments.

City manager Jacques Dubé reminded council and the public that the $2 million set aside for 2012 may not actually get spent, but getting the borrowing authority in place would give the city money for planning and land acquisition should a funding application to the federal government be approved.

Another discussion council and city staff will soon be having with the Codiac Regional Policing Authority is how best to deal with the inadequate facilities at the city's police station. As has been the case for years now, the question of who will police the city after the RCMP contract expires next March has complicated matters, but everyone seems to agree the building needs work no matter which police use it.

There's only $500,000 in the 2012 budget, but another $17.5 million is pencilled in for 2013 and 2014.

Assistant city manager Don MacLellan has been the lead on the police station file and he told council, "staff is optimistic the cost sharing (the sticking point in Moncton's negotiations over whether to keep the RCMP or not) will come... and then we will immediately turn our attention to the building."

The city's plans were clarified a bit last night. It would likely expand and renovate the existing police station at 520 Main rather than build a whole new facility, if for no other reason, the city would be stuck with the current building after a new one was built.

"It really is a single purpose building," Jacques Dubé said, noting among other things that a basement full of jail cells was not exactly an attractive real estate feature.

"It would be very difficult to put it on the market."

Instead, the city and its police should probably expect a modernized facility built out of the existing one, with an extra story added and possible outward expansion as well.

personal notes:
- It's good to see that the council is taking the next step with the events centre. If federal and provincial funding comes through, it's good to be prepared.
- It's also good to see that the roundabout at Collishaw, connecting to Russ Howard will finally move ahead. This should make quite a difference to traffic flow in this part of the city and will certainly improve access to the 4-Ice Centre.
- I'm a little disappointed that they are only thinking of renovating and expanding the current Codiac RCMP HQ rather than building a new one. Another new government building on Assomption would have made a great visual impact for the riverfront facade of the city. I understand their rationale though.....

[mylesmalley]

I'm sure they're understandably antsy because of the controversy with the new police headquarters in Saint John.

Putting another floor on the building is the kind of suggestion that people make that always leaves me scratching my head. Unless the building was originally designed to carry more weight, there's no point in trying to upgrade the whole thing. Not to mention the cost of new elevators, reconfiguring staircases, improving utilities and services, etc. You'd better off just adding a big addition off to one side. Mind you, the building may very well have been built with verticality in mind. I sincerely doubt it though.

[MonctonRad]

from today's T&T

Historic home finds a new lease on life
Published Friday October 14th, 2011

Developer restoring 131-year-old downtown house
By Craig Babstock
Times & Transcript STaff

Developer Thierry Le Bouthillier says it may cost more to restore an old property instead of tearing it down to build a new one, but he thinks it's worth it.

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=711327&size=400x0
GREG AGNEW/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
Thierry Le Bouthillier is restoring this former home built for a railroad executive in the late 1800s at the corner of Archibald and Queen Streets in downtown Moncton.

"It's a passion," says the head of Groupe Le Bouthillier, talking outside his company's latest project at 201 Queen Street. "This is located downtown, so it has to be restored to preserve it."

Le Bouthillier has restored other properties in the city, including one at 45 Elmwood Drive in Sunny Brae. That building was erected in 1912 and condemned because of its condition but Le Bouthillier saw promise, purchased it and restored it last year. It was transformed into three executive suites plus office space under the brand My Studio Moncton, with the slogan, Urban Living Made Simple.

"We made something better out of it," he says.

Now he's turned his attention to 201 Queen Street, which was built in 1880 by CNR as a home for an executive and his family. The structure, located at the northeast corner of Queen and Archibald Streets, has been several things over the years, including a residence and bed and breakfast, and now it's the latest My Studio Moncton project.

Le Bouthillier just took ownership of the property a week ago and workers have spent the last few days starting the restoration. The outside of the building, which includes a circular turret on one of the corners, will be restored as closely to the original colours and design as possible. The inside will be modernized, though original components will be incorporated into that design where possible.

The work should be finished in January and result in four furnished executive suites targeting corporate executives, who can rent the space for various lengths of time, depending on their needs.

The building is not designated a heritage property, so Le Bouthillier is under no obligation to maintain its original characteristics, but he says his heart is in the project, which he expects will cost more than $400,000 including purchase price. He believes the city and its residents appreciate it any time a piece of the city's heritage can be restored.

Moncton Coun. Paulette Theriault, council's liaison with the Moncton Heritage Preservation Review Board, is delighted to hear another old building is being restored.

"That's wonderful," she says. "It's preserving our heritage, our culture and it's about telling our story as a city."

Theriault says this seems to be a trend in the community.

"When I drive around, lately, I see a lot more people are renovating, revitalizing and preserving older buildings and that's a good thing," she says. "When you visit cities and towns, you look for culture and history, and by destroying these buildings, you destroy a page of our culture.

"When you travel to Europe, that's what makes it special. They don't tear down a building because it's 300 years old."

Developer Bob Holmes, whose projects include restoring the Albion Block on Main Street, is currently in talks with Le Bouthillier about working on a project together. He says keeping the city's heritage intact is a good thing when it comes to development. He adds that once an old building is torn down, the character is gone.

"You can't replace that character," he says.

Holmes likens restoring an old building to doing a heart transplant. You revitalize the interior while maintaining the exterior.

Holmes also owns the property on Main Street where the former Dewey building stood before a biker burned it down in August 2000.

"We'd like to get something going there as soon as possible but I don't see anything happening until the spring," he says.

personal note - this is all good stuff. I'm all in favour of restoring quality buildings in the downtown as long as it doesn't interfere with larger developments. It helps to build the character of the community. The last several paragraphs are an interesting tidbit. It sounds as if LeBouthillier and Holmes are planning on something new for the old Dewey Building location with construction to start perhaps next year. It would be great to fill up that hole on Main Street! :tup:

[macas539]

Traffic lights at Evergreen and Mountain are now turned on and are in flash mode. I assume they will be controlling the intersection very soon. I must say that can't happen soon enough! That place is a major accident just waiting to happen now that Second Cup is open. The traffic turning in and out of there is insane. In my opinion the city should have had this all completed well in advance of the coffee shop opening. I just hope it's done by the time the new Swiss Chalet is up and running.

[mmmatt]

ING Direct is setting up their new call center in the Terminal Plaza building (the smaller of the former CN buildings). Crombies site states they will occupy 14,386 sq ft. The entire 6th floor and 1/2 of the 7th floor! This is great news for downtown and also our office vacancy rate, which has been on a steady decline as of late and this will help it continue in that direction.

If you drive by at night you can see they are working away painting the walls bright orange.

I'm hoping this will mean a nice new ING sign on the building, the way Asurion used to have on there before they moved to the Emmerson Park.

[MonctonRad]

:previous:

Yes, a nice shiny ING Direct sign at the top of the Terminal Plaza building would look quite nice. It certainly is good to see the progressive decline in the office vacancy rate. This might auger well for the rumoured office building at the corner of Vaughan Harvey and Assomption.

I was out and about today and decided to snap a picture of the Empire Theatres expansion at Crystal Palace. I decided on a distance shot rather than a close-up just to show that it will be a significant new contribution to the overall footprint of the building. You can also appreciate the progress being made on repaving the Champlain Place parking lot. There is still much work to do but you can tell that the lot will no longer resemble no-mans-land at the Battle of the Somme.... :haha:

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z411/MonctonRad/Snapbucket/Moncton%20Construction%202011/007d652c.jpg

[josh_cat_eyes]

:previous:

A friend of mine lives on Timberline Road (at the top of Lutes Mountain) and they have a spectacular view of the city lights at night from that elevation. There are a number of $1M homes up there. Anyway, my friend told me there was a plan to extend the subdivision further along the ridge with the average lot size for the subdivision being around 2-3 acres (think Rural Estates with a view :haha:). The city came back stating that since the area was unserviced, the lot size would have to be 12-15 acres. That put the kibosh to that idea pretty quickly.

This could be similar to what happened in SJ. I think this proposal happened some time after the Rural Estates fiasco and perhaps the city didn't want to repeat the same mistake again.......

This is the development my uncle is involved in. It is moving very slow. Get this tho, they approached the city about amalgamating their land into the City but the City doesn't want to. Without this, they are forced to have big lot sizes. I couldn't believe you are actually not allowed to have small lots.

[NBNYer]

Wow, that's a pretty significant expansion for Empire Theaters. Looks like it's going to be really close to the highway. Too bad the expansion isn't towards the mall, would've closed half the distance for that fabled future connection and perhaps created a better incentive to do it.

Nice 5 series btw. :tup:

[MonctonRad]

:previous:

How do you know the other car isn't mine? :haha:

But yes, a BMW 550i X-drive with the M Sport package..... :tup:

[JasonL-Moncton]

Wow, that's a pretty significant expansion for Empire Theaters. Looks like it's going to be really close to the highway. Too bad the expansion isn't towards the mall, would've closed half the distance for that fabled future connection and perhaps created a better incentive to do it.

I agree that it would be amazing for them to connect the mall (urban planet hallway) to Crystal Palace. What would be really cool is if they connected it but kept the ability to drive through from one side to the other in front of Chapters...perhaps a hallway almost to CP, then a pedway (with escalators on either side) to enter CP. That would be a way to keep the ability to drive around the mall, and connect the two structures.

:) :tup:

[NBNYer]

:previous:

How do you know the other car isn't mine? :haha:



Just a hunch

[mmmatt]

Nice BMW MonctonRad! I would give my right foot for an M3 (although it would create significant difficulty while driving it).

Couple things:

1. If you would re-take that exact same shot of Empire Theaters right now you would notice they have since added the distinct makeup of an entrance on that side of the building. They have added tall columns (at least 10ft taller than the tallest part of the new section) I am assuming to support a new facade structure (as shown in the examples I pulled up). They also added a rounded awning structure which I assume will be over the entrance doors. It already looks quite appealing and its just bare steel! :)

2.



I had heard that it was going to be Miller Tirecraft.

Turns out you are correct, they put the signs up today on the old Moncton Mitsubishi.

[mmmatt]

At this rate it is only a matter of time before the whole City of Moncton moves itself north of the TCH :haha:

While there is signifigant development north of the TCH there is also hope for the interior as signifigant infill housing projects are in the works such as:


Franklin Crossing (former rail land next to Centennial Park, 5~ rowhouses and a dozen or so semi detached in the last couple years). In this shot it is the vacant strip of land to the far right. This shot is before the current housing development started of course.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2703/4252313594_393ef1dd3a.jpg
source (http://www.flickr.com/photos/canadalandscompany/4252313594/)

The "Vision Lands" development which is getting underway as we speak. A new road is being carved and all that good stuff.

This is really the last major swath of vacant land in the city inside the TCH.

This is an image of the location of "Phase 1" the entire development is much larger of course.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/4809/vision1.jpg
(originally posted by David 99)

[JHikka]

How much of a chance is there that development outside of the TCH increases in the next few years? I know most people on here would prefer more urban development and densification (myself included), but sprawl is a sad reality in a lot of circumstances. Do Moncton city limits end exactly at the TCH...?

[NBNYer]

Do Moncton city limits end exactly at the TCH...?

Quite a bit north of the TCH actually.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/5510/44364640.gif

[bobcage]

Nice! Hey does anyone know where I could find recent photos of the river, comparing "before and after" the gates opened? It'd be nice to see how much it's widened in a year and a half. Aerial or otherwise. I figured the river keeper site would have up to date photos, but nothing yet.

Cheers!

I have a few before and after pics -- how do I post pics in this forum ??

[mylesmalley]

How much of a chance is there that development outside of the TCH increases in the next few years? I know most people on here would prefer more urban development and densification (myself included), but sprawl is a sad reality in a lot of circumstances. Do Moncton city limits end exactly at the TCH...?

What isn't' necessarily apparent from looking at a map is just how much development has already happened north of the TCH in the last couple of years. The Casino and adjacent hotels have taken up pretty much all of the remaining land on Mountain Rd south of the highway so we're going to start seeing a lot more creep on other roads, especially Mapleton. Then there's the money being put in to Magnetic Hill, Crandall University, several surrounding housing developments, etc. And that's just in the North-west end.

Further east, the Caledonia Industrial Park has expanded and is pretty rapidly filing up with some surprisingly large commercial and industrial tenants, and there are already a few fairly large neighbourhoods that shoot off Shediac Road out there, like Lakeville.

All that stuff has been pretty natural. I'm not thrilled about how it's been happening, but most of it is pretty obvious ribbon development around the highway or along major roads.

Which brings me to the bigger problem: Royal Oaks. Or more specifically the fact that the province wants to build a high school there. There's already a lot up there: the surprisingly huge Pinetree Minihome park, McEwen airfield, Irishtown Park and the golf course. All of that is about 2.5km north of the city. Save for some rural residential and a couple commercial lots, there's not much connecting it to the rest of the city. But by putting the high school up there, the province is basically throwing down an anchor to attract more sprawl. One needs look only at how quickly Evergreen and Kingswood exploded when their school was built and how quickly the Northrup Frye school is doing the same.

I don't want to make this sound like a tempest in a teapot. We're by no means New York or Toronto. But sooner or later the municipality is going to start feeling the pinch of unnecessarily big sprawl costs.

[MonctonRad]

I don't want to make this sound like a tempest in a teapot. We're by no means New York or Toronto. But sooner or later the municipality is going to start feeling the pinch of unnecessarily big sprawl costs.

When you look at the $10M or so being spent by the city to upgrade Ryan Street to service Northrup Frye School, and the additional costs to service the new Royal Oaks High School off Elmwood, I would say that this is already happening.... :(

[MonctonRad]

I have a few before and after pics -- how do I post pics in this forum ??

Open an account with a photo hosting site (Flickr, Photobucket etc.) and upload your photos there. Each photo will then have it's own unique http web address. This can usually be found next to the photo when previewing it. Copy the address and paste it to your post in the forum here, ensuring that it is given IMG tags. Essentially this means enclosing the address between and .

It may sound complex, but it isn't really. Keep in mind that I'm an old fart and I can do it! :)

[Lrdevlop]

From today's T&T (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/front/article/1449067)

Main Street businesses call for more parking spaces
Published Wednesday October 19th, 2011


Downtown Moncton Inc.'s meeting brought up need of on-street parking, possibility of Main as one-way
A1
BY ALLISON TOOGOOD
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF

Downtown Moncton Centreville Inc.'s president touched on four items during yesterday's fall meeting and one really struck a cord with the business operators.

Mark Smith of Read's Newstand and Timothy's Coffee Shop on Main Street says tongue-in-cheek that he would even be willing to paint some lines if it would get some more on-street parking spots across from his establishments.
Louis Léger updated the organization's members on surveys done last year about on-street parking on Main Street and the possibility of turning it into a one-way. About 75 per cent of Monctonians polled were for on-street parking and 60 per cent expressed support of Main being a one-way street.

This would produce 225-250 extra spots and would be a fairly simple change.

"We'd just have to repaint some lines," Léger said. "I can't think of anything that would help more for the ground floor businesses."

Mark Smith of Read's Newstand and Timothy's coffee shop on Main said that he is tired of waiting for the needed change and brought his frustration to the table in a comedic way.

"If anyone here has any sway with the powers that be, I'd be happy to paint some lines across from Read's and maybe buy a few meters and stick them on there."

The seven-unit complex that Read's is housed in has only seven parking spots directly in front of the businesses.

Smith said they've been abdicating for 15 to 20 spots on the adjacent side of the street, going east. He said that since adding coffee to his arsenal at the news stand, most of his costumers want to get in and out for their brew and newspaper or magazine.

"You won't take the time to look around for parking for that," he said.

A frequent costumer, Larry Nelson, has told Smith that when he drives up to the news stand, if there's a spot, he parks and comes in but if not, he keeps going. Smith said this is an all-too-common thing for Read's customers who are driving.

With the weight of big-box stores selling newspapers and magazines at discounted prices on his shoulders, Smith said he needs to do everything for complete costumer satisfaction.

"We have to do everything we can to stay in downtown Moncton," he said. "As a business person, I'm saying let's get this done."

Léger said that the board agrees with this need 100 per cent and city council knows on-street parking is most convenient, but the city has to take into account the many things that they need to do.

City manager Jacques Dubé piped up to confirm that the city has heard the message. He said that city council will look at the consideration, at the latest by December, as to whether or not Main Street parking will become a reality.

"What's important is that we put the rubber to the road," he said.

Tim Borlase, the director of the Capitol School of Performing Arts, said that he too is looking for parking at the Capitol Theatre to be addressed.

There are only three spots in front of the building and a chunk of the back paid parking lot has been eaten up by construction.

"The parents of the theatre kids are not fully comfortable parking on Church Street, if there's anything available, so they have to go around back," he said. "They must pay a fee of $1.25 when they drop them off and then pick up children at night. Even if they're only sitting there for three minutes."

[mylesmalley]

If the rest of the road network downtown was designed to accommodate it, I'd make Main St one way in a heartbeat. Unfortunately it isn't.

I think the only way you could do it would be to make Main and St George one way in opposite directions from Vaughan Harvey to King. In principal that would work, but King Certainly isn't built to handle that much more traffic. Maybe someday when the city widens Mountain/King to four lanes the rest of the way to Main St. I'd be concerned to that if the two one-way arteries are too far apart from each other, you'll force more traffic to use Gordon/Queen.

[mylesmalley]

And for the record, Reid's wouldn't have nearly the problem they have today if Highfield Square wasn't so militant about protecting their gigantic empty parking lot from 'freeloaders'.

[theshark]

And for the record, Reid's wouldn't have nearly the problem they have today if Highfield Square wasn't so militant about protecting their gigantic empty parking lot from 'freeloaders'.

or, if people would not be afraid to walk a few blocks :haha:

[MonctonRad]

And for the record, Reid's wouldn't have nearly the problem they have today if Highfield Square wasn't so militant about protecting their gigantic empty parking lot from 'freeloaders'.

Indeed, it's not as if that parking lot is ever full.... :haha:

The T&T loves to float this trial balloon about Main Street and what should be done with it about every 3-4 months. I personally am sick and tired of this fake issue!!! :hell:

When will DMCI and the T&T get it through their heads that Main Street is the ONLY direct east/west route that passes completely through the entire downtown core!!!!!!!

If Main Street were ever made one-way or (God forbid) ever turned into a pedestrian mall, it would only succeed in driving business away from the downtown core!

It's hard enough to get people to come downtown now, imagine what it would be like if downtown suddenly became more inaccessible! You also have to plan for the future. Everyone wants the events centre to go downtown. This will of course mean substantially increased traffic in the downtown. How will that work if Main Street is blocked off or becomes a bottleneck. The whole idea of tampering with Main Street is so daft that it's simply ludicrous!! :shrug:

I don't doubt that public parking in the core is an issue but the answer is not to clog up Main Street, the answer is to build multilevel enclosed downtown parking garages!! The answer is so obvious that it is simple!

People don't have to be able to park in front of a business in order to use the business. That's small town thinking. A walk of 2-3 blocks is not a hardship and this is what happens in most larger cities. Do people park immediately in front of storefronts on Spring Garden Road in Halifax. Of course not - there is no on street parking in the commercial section of Spring Garden Road!!! Everyone parks in the parkade and walks. That's the big city way. Moncton should aspire to be more like Halifax, not Sussex!!! We aren't a town of 5,000 people for cripes sake!!!

I am beyond exasperation about this issue. For the love of God, let it go!!! :hell::hell::hell:

[YYCguys]

I'm an occasional visitor to Moncton, and do note the traffic congestion on Main Street when walking about, so I do see merit in converting it to a one way street. Not sure how parking would be improved though, and M-Rad has a valid point: parkades should be built to alleviate the parking issues. Some really nice parkades can be built that hold retail on the ground floor and parking above and that blend in the character of the neighborhood. However, and this is where I play devil's advocate here, are the side streets and adjoining streets such as Queen/Gordon up to snuff to take on the displaced Main Street traffic needing to go the opposite direction?

[mylesmalley]

My point exactly.
And there's a lot that can be done to increase parking on side streets. Bonacord is never going to be a major thoroughfare, especially since Acadian moved, so why not line both sides with parking?

Highfield St has a fair few spaces too. They're being tied up by the construction on the Dominion Building, but that will hopefully wrap up in the next few months.

Those are the easy fixes.

Harder fixes will obviously be what to do as more stuff gets built downtown. We're all going to have to come to terms with the fact that people are going to continue driving everywhere in Moncton. It's nice to dream about a ped-friendly city, but we're a long way from that. It's something that needs to be worked toward, but we can't ignore reality either. With that said, surface parking is going to get scarcer and scarcer as time goes on. Putting money into parking structures is the only practical way to address the issue. I realize people don't like them, but (just like roundabouts) you get used to them pretty quickly when you have to use them.

[q12]

460 jobs to be cut at Moncton Maple Leaf Foods

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/10/19/nb-maple-leaf-foods-cuts.html

Don't know if you guys were aware of this. Hopefully Moncton can pick up some contract work from the shipbuilding contract that will make up for the loss.

[MonctonRad]

:previous:

Yes, very disappointing news and rather ironic that this was announced the same day that Halifax landed the shipbuilding contract.

To be honest, this news is not an absolute surprise. Maple Leaf Foods has not been a friend of the Maritime region and Hub City Meatpackers has been on edge ever since they closed the Maple Leaf plant in Berwick last year. The feeling has been " when will it happen to us".

450 jobs is a big blow to the economy of the city, but Moncton has created more jobs than this already this year. We will survive and continue to prosper. We survived the CN Shops, CFB Moncton and the Eatons catalogue warehouse. We will survive this as well. Our economy is far more diversified that even five years ago.

You may be right about Moncton landing subcontracting work from the shipbuilding program. We have industrial enterprises in the city fully capable of participating in this project. I expect to see industrial benefits all through NB (but particularly in Saint John). With Moncton's strength in transportation and distribution, we should benefit in any event.

[mylesmalley]

It isn't necessarily the supply contracts which benefit the region, but the infusion of cash into local companies that flows all the way through. Companies need new factories which boosts the construction sector. Factories need new machines, which need new operators, which need trucks to deliver them, and so on and so forth. 10,000 jobs means more consumers to support small businesses. More people means more apartments and houses... A dollar can get passed around many many times

[josh_cat_eyes]

About the parking issue in moncton, they need too look at downtown Charlottetown. The have the BEST downtown ever. 3 parking garages. the have 1 way streets with diagonal parking so you can fit more cars. Downtown Charlottetown is probably the busiest downtown per capita in Canada. I go to College there and often walk to the Tim's downtown for lunch and there is ALWAYS 5-10 people waiting to cross at all of the 3-4 traffic lights that I pass. There also is virtually ZERO parking lots of any significant size. Probably the biggest ones are at the Holland College Campus'

[MonctonRad]

:previous:

Absolutely agree that Charlottetown does it much better but:

1- The principal downtown streets in Ch'town are much wider, allowing for diagonal parking while maintaining two lane traffic.
2- Main Street in Moncton would be the equivalent of University Avenue or Grafton Street in Ch'town, ie- the principal gateway to the core. Can you imagine coming into Ch'town on University Avenue from the north, and then forced to be diverted to Queen Street at some point because the downtown portion of University was one-way outbound.....

It just wouldn't work.

[nwalbert]

460 jobs to be cut at Moncton Maple Leaf Foods

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-br...oods-cuts.html

This is definitely very bad news for the province as a whole and especially Moncton. That is a lot of jobs, does anyone have an idea if they were quality high paying? I assume that cannot be replaced by call center jobs?

[MonctonRad]

460 jobs to be cut at Moncton Maple Leaf Foods

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-br...oods-cuts.html

This is definitely very bad news for the province as a whole and especially Moncton. That is a lot of jobs, does anyone have an idea if they were quality high paying? I assume that cannot be replaced by call center jobs?

Mostly blue collar union type jobs but with reasonable wages. I imagine your typical employee is a middle aged unilingual anglophone male with or without a high school diploma. In other words, generally unfit for the call centre industry. :(

For example, the several hundred new jobs with ING Direct in Moncton requires bilingualism in the job applicants.

In general, the economy in Moncton can survive this hit. We are diversified enough and resilient enough to do so. My own partially informed estimate is that the city has created nearly 1,000 new jobs this year already so we are not going to be thrown into the depths of a localized economic depression but for the individual workers involved, this is very bad news....

The plant won't close until 2014. The workforce will be maintained until that time. This gives the city a lot of time to explore options for the facility. The mayor is going to sit on a task force committee with Maple Leaf Foods to try and ameliorate the situation. Maple Leaf apparently wants to sell the building so perhaps Hub City Meatpackers isn't quite dead yet. Maybe a buyer will step forward. There should be a local meat processor serving the Maritime region, I would think.....

[mmmatt]

My 2 cents on the Maple Leaf closure:

It is very sad news for the Maple Leaf employees effected. My father was manager of the machine shop for 15 years before they downsized 7 or so years ago. At that time they layed off around 500 workers and I have heard through the grapevine that there have also been wage decreases since that point.

This year alone we have seen the creation of around 600~ call center jobs and 300 of those are ING ones which have a BASE pay of 15.25/hr. That's not accounting for the supervisors, managers etc who will of course make more.

The fact that the majority of workers at the meat plant are general labour and "assembly line" type workers they would most likely be near to the same wages as the new ING center.

Also as we speak there are two large distribution centers going up in Caledonia one of which will have a substantial office built in (24,000 sq ft). These two will employ at least 100. These jobs will also be of the same caliber as what has been lost through the Maple Leaf closure.

So this year in total for the large "newsmaker" type of jobs figures we are looking at around -460 and +700 so still in the positive about 240.

I'm not trying to downplay the loss to those employees as it is great. I'm merely trying to show that this will not be a "game changer" for the city by any means. These workers will be absorbed by our growing economy in the coming 3 years they have to do so. And we can all hope that this new "task force" will come up with something to do with the plant.

[Steelcowboy]

2 big distribution centers in Caledonia park? Hmmm I wonder if they will be railserved? A modest layoff has occured in the Atlantic region on CNR. Although they have hired about 20 new conductors in the past year ( a class of 9 is training now). Cuts in Edmundston and Halifax has about 8 guys here from those 2 cities, laying off some of these newbies. I've noticed a decreased amount of traffic coming through Moncton. Newpage has about 95% of that downturn from its spin off (woodchips, chemicals, finished products of pulp and paper). The Deersdale closure may have effect as well...woodchips for Saint John come from there and of course lumber. I hope the Canadian dollar can fall to a level that attracts buyers of our products in the maritimes.

[MonctonRad]

2 big distribution centers in Caledonia park? Hmmm I wonder if they will be railserved?

Nope, neither one of the new distribution centres is on a rail spur - sorry.

[mmmatt]

Some tidbits I've noticed in the last couple days:

1. There is a new pizza joint opening up inside a small expansion of the Econo Lodge on west main. "Harrys Pizza"...I live nearby so I'm excited to try it out...however it again raises the point...how many pizza joints can this city sustain??? it seems we have a new one every few months haha...guess we just love our pizza and our timmies a lot! :P

2. The exterior cladding is going up on the Moncton Irving HQ on Dieppe blvd. it is identical to the rest of the building as we already knew from the renders.

3. There is a new Massage Therapy office which has opened a storefront on St George (where former MP Brian Murphy had his local office).

4. The former homes of "Artsy et Vintage" and "Café Clémentine" on St George are being completely gutted...the two top floors (as we know) are being made into luxury condos, and now the former retail space is also in renovation mode...hopefully to be made into retail or office space. That corner is going through a complete transformation as of late, with the city updating the look of the street, Killam now building a 7 floor apt bldg and this renovation. :)

[porchmouse]

Some tidbits I've noticed in the last couple days:

1. There is a new pizza joint opening up inside a small expansion of the Econo Lodge on west main. "Harrys Pizza"...I live nearby so I'm excited to try it out...however it again raises the point...how many pizza joints can this city sustain??? it seems we have a new one every few months haha...guess we just love our pizza and our timmies a lot! :P



Harry is one of Nick the Dutch Baker's sons. He's had a successful pizza place at the Moncton Market. If you're not familiar with Nick the Dutch Baker then you are missing out. His chicken pot pies, baked goods, breads, etc....delicious and so fresh. His children are following in his footsteps. They all work at the market with him (two have their own businesses) and are so polite and service oriented. I just love paying them a visit every Saturday. Here's wishing Harry much success! You can find Harry on twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/NotreDamePizza or visit Nick the Dutch Baker at http://www.nickthedutchbaker.com/

On a side note I'm not related...I just love their stuff! :)

Cheers! and now I'm hungry...

[mylesmalley]

Abridged from the T&T:

Metro building permit values jump
Published Friday October 21st, 2011


Planning commission's year-to-date report shows Metro Moncton's building permit values see significant hike
A1
BY ALLISON TOOGOOD
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF

Metro Moncton and its surrounding areas are continuing a banner year for building permits, with construction values adding up to impressive figures.

While the actual number of permits in almost every category are down, the Greater Moncton Planning District Commission reports that the values of those permits are much higher than in 2010.

The City of Moncton itself recorded the highest rise in value for its year-to-date totals: $157 million worth of building projects approved, compared to $121 million at the same time last year. The total value of permits increased by almost 30 per cent.
...
Although there were 84 less permits, this year's total regional value for the 1,906 permits issued so far in Moncton, Dieppe, Riverview and the villages and unincorporated areas surrounding the tri-community is $282,416,478.60, an 8.6 per cent improvement over 2010.
...
Dieppe saw a permit value rise to $64 million for the year, compared to $2 million less last year. Riverview recorded similar results, with $21 million this year, versus $19 million in 2010.

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/1449674

___
I was really concerned coming out of 2009 and 2010 that the city's construction numbers would hit a wall once the big provincial infrastructure spending and casino were through. Granted there still has been some public sector investment, like the new public works building in Dieppe, the stuff going to the university and the Dumont heating plant, but the lion's share is private sector investment in the economy.

As has been pointed out before, the apartment construction going on right now is unreal, all three industrial parks are undergoing expansion and filling up quickly, and now it seems the retail sector is finally going to climb out of the recession. Exciting times!

[MonctonRad]

:previous:

$282M in building permits is certainly nothing to sneeze at!

I am intrigued that in the article, they hinted that building permits for the Mapleton Power Centre were beginning to "pile up" and that they expected significant construction work in the spring. :tup:

Hopefully the anticipated closure of Maple Leaf Foods won't put a damper on things, but I think the city is beyond that and the economy is now large enough and diverse enough to come out of this unfazed. I am also hopeful that the plant will be repurposed and will survive in some form. The Maple Leaf plant in Berwick NS stayed open (under different management) and is now a chicken processing facility. It sounds as if Maple Leaf would like something similar to happen here....

[mylesmalley]

It's really unfortunate for all the workers at Maple Leaf, but there are a few things to keep in mind. The facility isn't going to close for 3 years, which is a long time to prepare for the job hunt. It also gives a lot of time to look for alternative employment. I'd be much more concerned if it was closing next month.

The biggest factor is the fact that Moncton's economy is growing and diversified. It isn't so big that a company that large would go unnoticed, but more than capable of absorbing that many workers. And as MonctonRad pointed out, that's also assuming the plant can't get purchased and repurposed by someone else.

[MonctonRad]

It's in the T&T today that the feds have finally agreed to the 10% rebate on policing for the Codiac Regional RCMP.

I presume that this announcement will put to bed the issue over regional policing services for Metro Moncton and that this will give the green light to either the expansion and refurbishment of the existing police HQ building or (hopefully) the construction of a new building on Assomption Blvd.

:tup:

[mylesmalley]

It's about time.
I don't expect we'll ever get the 25 million in back rebates.

[MonctonRad]

:previous:

Maybe they could include that as part of the federal contribution towards the new events centre.....

:haha:

[josh_cat_eyes]

:previous:

Maybe they could include that as part of the federal contribution towards the new events centre.....

:haha:

Or just shoulder the entire cost of the new police HQ. Any money left over can go towards a new parkade downtown.

[MonctonRad]

Well, I was by the new Second Cup at Mountain and Gorge this evening. I was actually there twice, and both times the place was absolutely packed - all parking spaces full and all tables full. The second time around, i just gave up and went though the drive-thru.

It's not the first time that I have visited the new store. it's very much like a stand alone Starbuck's and I would say that Starbucks is definitely missing the boat by not having a location in the northwest end of the city. There certainly seems to be a pent up demand for a high end coffee shop in our end of the city.

Starbucks, you should take notice! :yes:

[macas539]

Well, I was by the new Second Cup at Mountain and Gorge this evening. I was actually there twice, and both times the place was absolutely packed - all parking spaces full and all tables full. The second time around, i just gave up and went though the drive-thru.

It's not the first time that I have visited the new store. it's very much like a stand alone Starbuck's and I would say that Starbucks is definitely missing the boat by not having a location in the northwest end of the city. There certainly seems to be a pent up demand for a high end coffee shop in our end of the city.

Starbucks, you should take notice! :yes:

My thoughts exactly. I frequent Second Cup almost daily since it opened. Starbucks is absolutely missing out. I hope they really consider opening a standalone store. I know I would be one of many potential customers.

On a side note the development in Monctons northwest is nothing short of amazing. I never imagined this part of the city would build up to this extent. It's almost unrecognizable fromjust two years ago! I hope it continues.

[David_99]

Moncton street enjoys revitalization
CBC.ca

The organization Downtown Moncton says it's starting to see a payoff for its economic development efforts on St. George Street.

The area has gone through some rough periods, including crime problems and the loss of several establishments over the years, but is currently enjoying some revitalization, said president Louis Léger.

There are new apartment buildings, condos under construction, existing businesses expanding and other projects planned.

Léger said there's still work to be done, but he compares it to renovating a house.

"Once you're in the middle of the renovations, sometimes it doesn't look great. So you have to stay focused on what the house is going to look like when its done," he said.

"Otherwise you could get discouraged. So it's very much a work in progress."

The rest of the article can be read at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/10/21/nb-st-george-street-revitalization.html

[mmmatt]

^ just went by today and they are changing all the street signs from the standard green rectangle to the downtown blue "wavy" version with the DCMI logo on them...just another step on the long list of recent improvements!

I've said it once and I'll say it again though, those power poles need to come down!!!

[JasonL-Moncton]

Harry is one of Nick the Dutch Baker's sons. He's had a successful pizza place at the Moncton Market. If you're not familiar with Nick the Dutch Baker then you are missing out. His chicken pot pies, baked goods, breads, etc....delicious and so fresh. His children are following in his footsteps. They all work at the market with him (two have their own businesses) and are so polite and service oriented. I just love paying them a visit every Saturday. Here's wishing Harry much success! You can find Harry on twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/NotreDamePizza or visit Nick the Dutch Baker at http://www.nickthedutchbaker.com/

On a side note I'm not related...I just love their stuff! :)

Cheers! and now I'm hungry...

Harry has also had a very successful pizza shop (which will remain open) in Notre Dame for years...Notre Dame Pizza is loved out that way and many have been asking Harry to open a shop in the city. :tup:

JL

[haligonia]

Well, I was by the new Second Cup at Mountain and Gorge this evening. I was actually there twice, and both times the place was absolutely packed - all parking spaces full and all tables full. The second time around, i just gave up and went though the drive-thru.

It's not the first time that I have visited the new store. it's very much like a stand alone Starbuck's and I would say that Starbucks is definitely missing the boat by not having a location in the northwest end of the city. There certainly seems to be a pent up demand for a high end coffee shop in our end of the city.

Starbucks, you should take notice! :yes:

If Second Cup continues to be successful, I wouldn't be surprised to see Starbucks open up shop somewhere in Moncton. The company has one of the most meticulous real estate departments of any chain in the world, so having a busy place like Second Cup should boost Moncton on their list. :tup:

[MonctonRad]

If Second Cup continues to be successful, I wouldn't be surprised to see Starbucks open up shop somewhere in Moncton. The company has one of the most meticulous real estate departments of any chain in the world, so having a busy place like Second Cup should boost Moncton on their list. :tup:

There are two Starbucks in Moncton - but they're both in Dieppe.. :haha:

To my mind, there should be one downtown (perhaps in a rebuilt Dewey Block), and one in the northwest end (possibly along Mountain Road or in the Mapleton Power Centre when it gets built next year).

[mmmatt]

There are two Starbucks in Moncton - but they're both in Dieppe.. :haha:

To my mind, there should be one downtown (perhaps in a rebuilt Dewey Block), and one in the northwest end (possibly along Mountain Road or in the Mapleton Power Centre when it gets built next year).

Now to be fair they do have an official Starbucks "coffee station" in the Delta downtown...that counts for something! :P