[Moncton] Northwest/Magnetic Hill Developments

[gehrhardt]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The new NBLC at Mountain & Sheraton Green is now open.

I was in on Thursday evening and thankfully there is a growler fill station with 4 taps. Actually, there are SIX taps, but only four are in use at the moment. I'm hoping they all will be in operation soon.

Overall it's a nice location. Having traffic lights at the entrance automatically makes it superior to the old store.

[Feneant]

Asian Garden has reopened its doors as of last Friday, same location but no signage up.

Looking forward to going back!

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by Feneant

Asian Garden has reopened its doors as of last Friday, same location but no signage up. Looking forward to going back!

Always liked their food. Generally it's a good sign if you see asian people eating at an asian restaurant. Was mildly disappointed when I went there once with a group looking for spicy Indian food. I asked for it "hot". Server laughed and when I got my food I found out they'd given me "white guy hot" which... wasn't.

[Ammn_guy]

I see for tonights council meeting .. there is a recommendation to approve the purchase of a pid in the north end from the province. Wondering if this is for the new north end ymca.

Looks to be roughly at the "end" of twin oaks.. behind ecole l'sommet. :





Reccommendation – Special Private Session – October 24, 2016
Motion: That City Council approve the acquisition of PID# 70569454 from the Province of New
Brunswick for a sum no greater than $377,000 plus applicable taxes and authorize the Mayor and
City Clerk to enter into an agreement of purchase and sale by signing and affixing the corporate
seal of the City of Moncton to said agreement and all other documentation required in order to
close the transaction.
Recommandation – Séance extraordinaire à huis

[MonctonRad]

That's a good hunch. I can't think of another reason why the city would want to purchase a parcel of land that size in the area..........

[mctnguy]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

That's a good hunch. I can't think of another reason why the city would want to purchase a parcel of land that size in the area..........

And maybe they will finally extend Twin Oaks to the traffic circle!

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by mctnguy

And maybe they will finally extend Twin Oaks to the traffic circle!

I really hope this is what happens. It's a pretty good location, especially if the YMCA/North End centre has access to Twin Oaks. For a parcel that big, I kind of hope they can build an ice pad too. The 4-plex was is great but it doesn't serve the needs the the neighbourhoods that aren't close to it.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

I really hope this is what happens. It's a pretty good location, especially if the YMCA/North End centre has access to Twin Oaks. For a parcel that big, I kind of hope they can build an ice pad too. The 4-plex was is great but it doesn't serve the needs the the neighbourhoods that aren't close to it.

Building singular ice pads isn't worth the build and maintenance/running costs and the parcel doesn't look large enough for a 2 or 4 pad structure. That, along with the fact that the 4Ice is roughly 3KM away, makes this idea seem unlikely. If you don't mind two 4-ice pad surfaces being that close together i'd recommend something north of UdeM or somewhere off of Ryan/Charles Lutes near the TCH.

I'm of the opinion that the current 4Ice is still a great facility and i'm really interested in hearing your opinion of how it doesn't serve the needs of other neighbourhoods.

[MonctonRad]

I must admit to having a soft spot for the original suggested location for the north end community centre on Clermont Street, immediately behind Evergreen Park School. I think it would have complemented the school very well. Of course, my bias is partly fuelled by the fact that the original planned location would've been about a 7-8 minute walk from my house.

Times change however, and the proposal is now for a public/private partnership between the city and the YMCA. It would appear that the consortium has opted for land on a soon-to-be-extended section of Twin Oaks, interestingly located adjacent to Ecole le Sommet rather than Evergreen Park School.

I think this new location makes sense.

- As a public/private partnership, I imagine the YMCA wanted a site with greater visibility and accessibility.
- This new location would have a larger footprint, giving the site greater flexibility in terms of planning what can be accommodated in the development.
- A community centre here will provided the impetus to finally connect Twin Oaks all the way through to the Ryan Street/Horsman Road roundabout.

In terms of what will be included in the community centre, there were never any plans to have a rink in the facility. There have been vigorous discussions in the past about including a pool in the facility. There will certainly be meeting rooms, a walking track, gymnasium and weight rooms and multifunctional space. Indoor tennis/squash facilities are possible, as well as a climbing wall and BMX track.

With Twin Oaks connected through to the roundabout, this will instantly become the default route for traffic exiting the Evergreen/Kingswood area heading downtown via Berry Mills Road. This will be a much more direct route rather than going down Evergreen to Ryan Street, and then to the roundabout.

Since this will mean that the east end of Twin Oaks will fulfill it's destiny as a neighbourhood connector, It makes one wonder what will be built along this soon-to-be-extended section of road. I doubt that the new section of Twin Oaks will be attractive to single family housing. I expect that medium density apartment buildings will be destined for this area (proximity to the community centre and Ecole le Sommet), possibly with some neighbourhood commercial development down by the roundabout itself........

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Building singular ice pads isn't worth the build and maintenance/running costs and the parcel doesn't look large enough for a 2 or 4 pad structure. That, along with the fact that the 4Ice is roughly 3KM away, makes this idea seem unlikely. If you don't mind two 4-ice pad surfaces being that close together i'd recommend something north of UdeM or somewhere off of Ryan/Charles Lutes near the TCH.

I'm of the opinion that the current 4Ice is still a great facility and i'm really interested in hearing your opinion of how it doesn't serve the needs of other neighbourhoods.

I just think that even though it's only 3 km away, the traffic to cross Wheeler is often bad. I do agree with you tho, that a single ice pad would be better off more north then the location we're discussing. Even something on Gorge Road at or near Crandall. Or off off of Twin Oaks near Falcon.
It's a great facility, just the traffic could make it inconvenient for some.

[MonctonRad]

The purchase of that PID on the Twin Oaks extension was approved by city council last night.

Mayor Arnold was a little coy on her FB page about the purchase. All she would say was that the land "might" be used for construction of the new north end community centre.

Personally, I think it's a fait accompli.........

[MonctonRad]

Further to the above, apparently the city has purchased this property on the uncompleted section of Twin Oaks to keep it's options open in terms of possibly locating the North End Community Centre here. The alternate possible location on Clermont Street next to Evergreen Park School remains in play.

Both sites are about seven acres in size.

The Clermont Street site is already fully serviced and therefore cheaper to develop, but would mean the loss of the playing fields in behind Evergreen Park School.

The Twin Oaks site is more virgin, and potentially more easily accessible once Twin Oaks is extended, but would be more expensive to develop in that full services would need to be installed, and the roadway would have to be built to access the site.

It will be interesting to see which option they choose..........

[MonctonRad]

- The Boston Pizza at the Northwest Centre is closed for renovations.
- The new bus transfer station on Plaza Blvd will be fully open for business on November 23rd.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

I just think that even though it's only 3 km away, the traffic to cross Wheeler is often bad. I do agree with you tho, that a single ice pad would be better off more north then the location we're discussing. Even something on Gorge Road at or near Crandall. Or off off of Twin Oaks near Falcon.
It's a great facility, just the traffic could make it inconvenient for some.

I recommended not building singular ice pads at all.

If you're building any arena or rink these days you need at least two sheets of ice for the costs (ice machine, zamboni, staff) to make sense. Singular ice sheets bleed money unless they're large enough to host larger-scale events (see: QMJHL, concerts, other public events).

[mylesmalley]

Just curious, but is there a typical metric as far as ice sheets per capita or something? 1 per 10,000? 1 per 15,000?

Actually for that matter I'm not even sure how many ice sheets we have. 12?

[Scarface]

Originally Posted by mylesmalley

Just curious, but is there a typical metric as far as ice sheets per capita or something? 1 per 10,000? 1 per 15,000?

Actually for that matter I'm not even sure how many ice sheets we have. 12?

in all of greater Moncton I can't remember if it's 13-14, and adding of course since the Centennial Arena is supposed to add a second ice surface, and there where talks of others expanding but still just talks nothing firm yet.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by mylesmalley

Just curious, but is there a typical metric as far as ice sheets per capita or something? 1 per 10,000? 1 per 15,000?

Really depends. Canada has roughly 3,250 hockey rinks, which I think considers the buildings and not the sheets themselves. Rounding that number up to say 4,000 or 4,250 brings it up to roughly 1 sheet/8,500 residents. I'd say 1/10,000 makes sense.

Originally Posted by mylesmalley

Actually for that matter I'm not even sure how many ice sheets we have. 12?

Moncton - 13
Coliseum - 1
4Plex - 4
Kay - 1
Centenaire - 1
Levesque - 1
LeBlanc - 2
Byron Dobson - 2
Memramcook - 1

Saint John - 10
Harbour Station - 1
LBR - 1
Gorman - 1
Peter Murray - 1
Belyea - 1
Stu Hurley - 1
RVCC - 1
Rothesay - 1
Quispamsis - 1
QPlex - 1

Fredericton - 8
Willie O'Ree - 2
Grant-Harvey - 2
Aitken Centre - 1
York - 1
LBR - 1
Oromocto - 1

At least off the top of my head. You can see how much of a difference having a 2 or 4 sheet building makes. Saint John has 11 Zambonis compared to Fredericton's 6, or Moncton's 8. Combine ice machines and staff and you start to see the difference in costing. The more sheets of ice in a building the more likely you are to have tenants willing to rent out space (shops, coffee shops) or full-on restaurants. These provide for rent and some financial leniency. Single ice sheet buildings do not provide this on a smaller community level.

In Ottawa, the Senators purchased/partnered with local hockey associations to renovate older buildings into SensPlexes, and either building new 4Plexes or adding new sheets to older buildings (doubling them, essentially). In larger areas like Toronto or Montreal we're getting into 6Plexes or 8Plexes. As well, areas like Gatineau built large fieldhouses attached to their doubled-rinks to serve as giant multi-purpose sports venues. Complexe Branchaud-Briere is a perfect example of this.

In the current day and age there's a lot more we can do than to simply plop down a singular hockey arena and be done with it. Venues like the Kay Arena in Moncton and the Tri-County Complex in Fredericton Junction added things like libraries and community centres to gain the necessary government funding to make those projects feasible. I'm of the opinion that, in the case of New Brunswick's urban centres, centralizing hockey activity into a single unit or building is far better financially and logistically-speaking moving forward, so long as they're designed and constructed properly. Something like the BMO Centre in Bedford is comparable to the 4Plex in Moncton, although it isn't really that much of a step forward despite being 15 years newer.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Essentially my point was that there isn't a single ice surface north of Wheeler. I would support building one near the new middle school once they build it, or at Crandall University.

[Franco401]

Small correction, there are actually 2 rinks in Oromocto (Soldier's arena and the King's Arrow) but neither are used by any Fredericton organizations. Local leagues and organizations tend to go to Nackawic, Minto or Burtt's Corner before Oro.

[MonctonRad]

Regarding the confirmed new Anglophone middle school for the northwest end:

- will be completed by September 2019.
- there are still 4-5 potential sites for the school under consideration.
- the DEC has been asked if a three storey design would be acceptable, presumably indicating that at least one of the proposed sites for the school might be undersized.
- all of the proposed sites are within city limits in the northwest section of the city.
- land purchase will be complete by next spring.
- the school is planned to accommodate 670 students.