[Moncton] Sackville Developments

[MonctonRad]

‘It can be done’: advocates say new heritage by-law needed before more of historic downtown lost
May 8, 2025
Erica Butler
CHMA News, Local Journalism Initiative, Community Radio Fund of Canada
https://www.chmafm.com/welcome/it-can-be...d-before-more-of-historic-downtown-lost/

n the wake of the demolition of three historic houses on York Street this week, heritage advocates are calling for the municipality of Tantramar to enact new heritage protections, nearly seven years after the former town of Sackville repealed its heritage bylaw.

Meredith Fisher says Sackville’s “charming” streetscape is disappearing and may soon hit a “point of no return.”

Tantramar Heritage Trust president Logan Atkinson agrees, telling CHMA that he hopes council will bring in a new heritage bylaw within the next year. “We ought to do it really quite quickly or the nature of this place is going to be altered forever,” says Atkinson.

The York Street houses were demolished to make way for a seven-storey residential development by partners John Lafford and Mike Wilson. Last November, Lafford told CHMA that while the existing heritage buildings could not be saved, he hoped the new building would “create maybe a new sense of heritage in an area that right now looks pretty tired.”

Demolition of the three properties on York Street underway

I reserve judgement on this debate. I do however agree that the new Town of Tantramar needs to have a heritage bylaw. I also agree that the pre-existing York Street streetscape was quite charming. A lot of the appeal however was lost with the devastating fire that destroyed the building housing Joey's Pizza.

On the other hand, Sackville needs to build density, and, there is a housing shortage in town created mostly by the presence of Mount Allison University. The town needs to grow, and, I see no harm in midrise development. The Lafford project will be seven storeys, which should be allowed. NIMBYism cannot rule the day.

Hopefully a common sense solution will be found.

[MonctonRad]

New crossing coming beside Wheaton Covered Bridge, MLA says
DTI to install modular bridge beside shuttered covered bridge, local MLA says
Author of the article:Sarah Seeley
Published May 22, 2025 • Last updated 23 hours ago • 3 minute read
https://tj.news/moncton-miramichi/new-crossing-coming-beside-wheaton-covered-bridge-mla-says (paywall)

MLA Megan Mitton says the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure will be installing a modular bridge next to the Wheaton Covered Bridge and will work to preserve the existing bridge, but no timeline has been given for the work.

The plan is to apparently preserve the covered bridge as a pedestrian crossing and a tourism attraction.

[Dieppe98]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Several houses on York Street, across from Convocation Hall are in the process of being demolished to make way for the planned seven storey mixed use apartment building being constructed by Lafford Developments.

I presume this means that construction will get under way this summer. Lafford does not fool around!


The buildings that are currently being torn down.


Facsimile of what Lafford is planning. An actual rendering has still not been made public.

The crane for this building is being assembled right now

[MonctonRad]

Thanks.

One thing you can say about Lafford, he doesn't waste any time!

[MonctonRad]

The crane is now up:

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Thanks.

One thing you can say about Lafford, he doesn't waste any time!

Hoping his Fredericton project gets under way sooner rather than later.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Hoping his Fredericton project gets under way sooner rather than later.

He's got a lot on his plate as is, with his Sackville project getting off the ground now, and his major Moncton developments. He obviously has expansion plans, involving Saint John & Fredericton. We'll see if he can start any other projects while he's busy with what he's working on currently. It would be great if he could.

[habs33]

Health and wellness centre at Mount Allison to honour alumni gift

https://www.919thebend.ca/2025/06/23/122265/

[MonctonRad]

A $5M donation is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

[theshark]

Originally Posted by Dieppe98

The crane for this building is being assembled right now

The crane is high enough to be seen from the highway but will the building be visible from there too? 7 stories should be close!

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by theshark

The crane is high enough to be seen from the highway but will the building be visible from there too? 7 stories should be close!

I rather doubt it. It will only be one floor taller than the Lafford apartment building overlooking the Waterfowl Park, and on the other side of the Mount Allison campus.

[MonctonRad]

I drove down to Bagtown today to see what's what:


Construction crane for Lafford's seven storey mixed use development across the street from Convocation Hall on York Street. This building has a significantly larger footprint than I was expecting, and will redefine the character of the downtown, The foundation has been poured, and, some structural columns are in place. As usual, Lafford is not wasting time.


They are currently pouring the foundation for the new health and wellness centre on the east side of alumni field at Mount Allison University This project is also progressing quickly.


This photo was taken from the bleachers on the south side of Alumni Field looking eastward. You can see the crane for the Lafford building in the background, and, the construction sitr for the new health and wellness facility in the foreground. In the middle distance between these two construction projects, there is also work going on to prepare a new paid parking lot for the university across from the wellness centre.

Sackville is essentially one large construction site this year.

[bingun]

N.B. Power, U.S. company pick Tantramar site for natural gas plant

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-bruns...antramar-for-natural-gas-plant-1.7585754

The 20-hectare site is in Centre Village, along Route 940, within the municipality of Tantramar.

It's where the Maritimes and Northeast natural gas pipeline crosses paths with an N.B. Power transmission line.

The plant would draw gas from that pipeline to run 10 turbines that would generate power to sell on the grid under a 25-year purchase agreement.

The assessment submission says the Tantramar site was chosen after consultations with the Mi'kmaw council, which said there would be fewer environmental impacts than at the Scoudouc site.

It appears that the new natural gas plant is located within the Tantramar boundaries, which could be a significant boost to municipal finances?

[MonctonRad]

Good news for Sackville (Tantramar).

Bad news for Shediac. The original plan was to locate this power plant in Scoudouc (now part of Shediac), roughly where the LNG pipeline crossed Route 15.

It will be interesting however to see how well this news is received in Sackville. Local politics is heavily influenced by the presence of Mount Allison University. The town is very environmentally conscious, and, is a very safe Green Party riding in the province. Will the populus accept a power plant, no matter how environmentally friendly???

[MonctonRad]

This is apparently what an LNG power plant like this would look like:



This is the proposed site plan:



You can see this is located between the interprovincial power transmission corridor (to the south), and the LNG pipeline (to the north). The location makes a lot of sense. This is where these two corridors intersect.

The fact that the location is remote (halfway between the town of Sackville and Shemogue on Route 9400 is probably a bonus in terms of the irate citizenry.

[adamuptownsj]

There should be one in Scoudouc too. And at Coleson Cove. And elsewhere.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

There should be one in Scoudouc too. And at Coleson Cove. And elsewhere.

I wonder how many jobs this project would create? Not construction, but after it comes on line.

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

I wonder how many jobs this project would create? Not construction, but after it comes on line.

Radio-Canada reported 8 to 10 employees will be needed for maintenance of the facility.

[MonctonRad]

The Tantramar eco-warriors are crawling out of the woodwork.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-bruns...rst-case-scenario-builder-says-1.7586651

N.B. Power said it will buy electricity from the plant to provide backup power to the utility's growing use of renewable wind and solar energy.

Because those sources aren't constant, the grid requires a more reliable base load of electricity it can turn on and off quickly when it's needed.

Both N.B. Power and ProEnergy said the gas plant will allow the utility to use less electricity from fuel oil at the Coleson Cove plant and from coal at Belledune, leading to a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 250,000 tonnes a year.

(Tantramar Green MLA Meaghan) Mitton said there's debate about whether natural gas is any better than coal because of methane leakage that can happen in the natural gas supply chain.

Mitton said people in her Tantramar riding are just starting to hear about the gas plant and are questioning whether it's needed and why N.B. Power selected an American company in the midst of a trade dispute with the U.S.

The project must go through a federal environmental assessment. The provincial government is able to waive the need for a separate provincial review.

Work is projected to start at the site early next year, with the plant operational in the third quarter of 2028.

It is unfortunate the proponent is an American company, but, the process was initiated before Drumpf's re-election. There is a tight timeline. There may actually be shortfalls in electrical generation by 2028, and, to prevent brown-outs, we will need to build capacity by this point.

I agree it seems to be counter-intuitive to be building a fossil fuel generating plant at this time, but, we do need a reliable back-up to wind and solar (the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow), and, LNG is cleaner than oil or coal (our current back-ups). This seems like a good option.

Perhaps if Mitton doesn't want this for Tantramar, they could reconsider the Scoidouc location.

[MonctonRad]

The forces continue to marshal against the proposed gas powered electrical generating station:

‘Absolutely not in my backyard’: New gas plant proposed in rural N.B.
By Josh Smith, CTV News
Published: July 30, 2025 at 6:14PM EDT
https://www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/new-brun...yard-new-gas-plant-proposed-in-rural-nb/

Most of the opposition is fuelled by unadulterated NIMBYism and irrational environmentalism, but, there are a few valid points to be made.

The one that resonates best with me concerns emergency response times. The proposed location is remote, and, fire department pumpers would require about 15-20 minutes to get there under a best case scenario. The Tantramar fire department is also a volunteer force. Would they be able to handle a major gas fuelled fire in a remote location with a limited water supply?

This is one scenario where a Scoudouc location would be better. Scoudouc is not as remote, and, Shediac fire response could quickly be backed up by additional resources from Dieppe and Moncton. Food for thought.