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Posted Apr 3, 2008, 2:52 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Grand Bay-Westfield :: NB
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Downtown Moncton frustrated by lingering development puzzle
Justice building, casino, arena and convention centre ideas hang in the air as time passes
Daniel Allain, executive director of Downtown Moncton Inc., says it's time to stop walking the line on redeveloping the area behind Main Street and just get on with it.
BY ALAN COCHRANE
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF
Published Thursday April 3rd, 2008
Appeared on page A7
With Moncton's new justice centre still several months away from construction, business and property owners are getting frustrated and tired of waiting for governments to make decisions on major downtown development projects.
"We are poised for development downtown but this waiting is very painful for businesses and property owners," Downtown Moncton Centre-Ville executive director Daniel Allain said yesterday. "Right now there are all these components -- the new courthouse, a casino and convention centre, and maybe a new arena for downtown -- but all these plans are hanging in the air and waiting for decisions from government. All these projects can be lured into our downtown core, but we need decisions before we can move forward."
Jack Keir, minister of Supply and Services, said yesterday the final proposal call for the new Moncton justice centre will go to the four developers in mid-April.
"By late spring or early summer, we should be able to pick a winner and move forward," Keir said. "Whenever you are doing an RFP (request for proposals), you want to do it right, not quick."
Despite the fact that the justice centre is a go-ahead, there is still much speculation of how it will fit in with the other pieces of the downtown development puzzle.
That leaves property and business owners who want to invest, renovate and expand sitting on their own plans for the future.
"We need a draw for our downtown, like they have in Halifax or St. John's or Montreal," said Gilles Maltais, owner of the Creek Seafood Restaurant on Robinson Street. "A convention centre, casino and arena would be huge for us."
Maltais said facilities like the Halifax Metro Centre or Saint John Harbour Station bring people into the downtown for sports and entertainment events, and that business spills over into the surrounding restaurants, bars and other services.
"We've been talking about a convention centre downtown for 10 years but it hasn't happened," said Maltais, who has delayed investing more money into his restaurant until he knows what's going to happen. "Moncton is growing but there are businesses that are shutting down because nobody is making decisions."
Allain said DMCI board members and member businesses are frustrated with delays and hungry for development to help them grow. He points to the early success of the new Sobeys and NB Liquor outlet at the corner of Main and Vaughan Harvey as an proof that if you build it, the customers will come. The new Gunningsville Bridge, Assomption Boulevard and other infrastructure built around the downtown in recent years has provided easy access by car, bike and by foot.
Several new buildings have been constructed and the new Marriott hotel is near completion. There is also talk of building a new police station downtown. But there are also large tracts of open land -- notably the former Beaver Lumber property -- sitting vacant and waiting for development.
The provincial government is currently mulling over two major projects that could go into Downtown Moncton -- the justice centre and a casino. The Department of Supply and Services announced in January it was preparing to move forward with a request for proposals on the new justice centre building. A spokeswoman for the department said yesterday all the documents have to be thoroughly examined before the province can move forward with the plan.
Four private developers will be asked to submit detailed proposals, one of whom will be given the contract. The final site for the new courthouse won't be announced until the developer is identified, which is expected later this spring. Construction is expected to begin in late summer of this year.
The new state-of-the-art courthouse will house 15 courtrooms and court staff as well as sheriff services, victim services, probation offices, family support services, Crown prosecutors and a law library. It is expected to be completed in 2009-2010. Moving Moncton's court system into a new building would free up space inside the downtown Assomption building.
The provincial government is also collecting proposals to build and operate a casino somewhere in New Brunswick. Allain is hoping it will be located in downtown Moncton. A survey of downtown business owners released earlier this week indicated 56 per cent are in favour of a casino in the downtown core. But there is no guarantee it will be located in Moncton. Finance Minister Victor Boudreau says the winning proposal will be announced sometime in May.
The city has been mulling over the idea of a convention centre for more than 10 years now, but the plans have hinged on whether Moncton gets a casino.
The idea of a downtown metro centre -- perhaps similar to the Halifax Metro Centre or Saint John's Harbour Station -- is also gaining momentum.
City council has set aside $50,000 for a feasibility study on a new sports/entertainment complex, which would complement and not replace the existing Moncton Coliseum. Moncton City Council voted in December to set aside $50,000 in its 2008 budget for a feasibility study on a downtown metro centre. The recent CityThink 2008 survey commissioned by the Times & Transcript showed public support for such a facility at close to 90 per cent.
So, with all these projects hanging in the air, how do they all fit together?
Allain points to large chunks of downtown land ready for development. The former Beaver Lumber property (behind Assomption Place), the Hollis Lincoln Mercury property (on Main Street across from the RCMP headquarters), the old Sobeys space in Highfield Square are all prime spots for something new. There is also space near the Via Rail station and behind the McSweeney Building where Club 700 is located. That space is conveniently wedged between the Blue Cross Centre, the downtown market and new high-end condominiums constructed a few years ago. There's also space that would be left open if and when the provincial jail is replaced.
"It's hard for us to move forward on the arena and convention centre without knowing where the casino and courthouse will go," Allain said. "People are not going to put any money into their properties until they know where they stand."
Many designs and drawings have been completed over the years, but Allain isn't sure how the pieces will all come together. For example, will there be enclosed pedways so people can walk from their hotel rooms directly to the convention centre, casino or arena without going outside? Or will the downtown farmer's market be changed into something that helps bring the pieces together?
"The province has two major decisions to make that will affect where we go with development over the next few years."
Ian Fowler, the general manager of the City of Moncton's Recreation, Parks, Culture and Tourism department, said there's not much the city can do but sit and wait for the first pieces of the puzzle to come together.
He said the city has no say in where the justice centre or casino will be located, since they are both under the control of the provincial government.
"The selected proponents will decide which piece of land will be used, and we'll have to take it from there," Fowler said. "There's a lot of space for a lot of development, and hopefully a couple of the dominos will fall this year, and we'll have to see where we go from there. I know there's a lot of people frustrated but there's not much we can do until then."
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Metro Moncton's minorities on the rise
Latest census info shows number of visible minorities growing in Moncton but well below Canadian average
By Craig Babstock
Times & Transcript Staff
Published Thursday April 3rd, 2008
Appeared on page A3
The visible minority population in Metro Moncton grew more than almost every other region of the province between 2001 and 2006.
But despite the growth, this community's visible minority population is still a tiny fraction of the total population. According to 2006 census data released yesterday by Statistics Canada, approximately two per cent of people in the census metropolitan area of Moncton are part of a visible minority group. That's 2,425 people out of a total population of 124,060, which is up 60 per cent from 2001.
"That's quite a bit lower than (the national figures)," says Marc Melanson, regional advisor for Statistics Canada. "Moncton is like most centres in Atlantic Canada, where visible minority populations tend to be a very small part of the population."
Moncton and New Brunswick actually have the same proportion of members of visible minority groups at two per cent.
Visible minorities make up a higher percentage of Fredericton's (4.4 per cent) and Saint John's (3.1 per cent) populations. Bathurst actually led the province in growth amongst visible minorities, at a 131 per cent between 2001-06, but that's actually not that big an increase, given the new total is 300 people.
Melanson says when considering increases or decreases in any Atlantic Canadian region, the percentages can be deceptive because the numbers are so small.
The largest visible minority population in Moncton as of 2006 is black (1,035), followed by South Asian (355), Chinese (295), Filipino (100), Latin American (95) and Southeast Asian (65). South Asian includes East Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan, while Southeast Asian includes Vietnamese, Cambodian, Malaysian, Laotian and other ethnicities.
A total of 41 per cent of the visible minority population in the Moncton region was born in Canada.
Melanson says it's no surprise to see the small number of visible minorities -- defined as persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour -- in Atlantic Canada. Larger cities have always had greater concentrations of visible minorities. For example, in Toronto, 42.9 per cent of the population (2.17 million people) is part of a visible minority population.
Canada reached a new benchmark in the 2006 census, when 5.07 million reported being a member of a visible minority group, up from just under four million in 2001. That makes up 16.2 per cent of Canada's population, which is far higher than the two per cent in New Brunswick and Moncton.
"Immigration is the biggest driver of Canadian population growth," says Melanson.
South Asians have now passed the Chinese as the largest visible minority group in the country.
The census data also contains information about the work and education of visible minorities.
In the Moncton area, visible minorities had a lower employment rate than non-visible minorities -- 62.1 per cent compared to 64.1 per cent. A total of 42.5 per cent of visible minorities attained at least a high school education and 38.2 per cent had a university certificate or degree. For non-visible minorities, the figures were 57.8 per cent and 19.1 per cent.
Besides information on visible minorities, the census also asked people about their ethnic origin.
The response from the Moncton region again shows how people's concept of their ethnicity is changing -- 52.1 per cent identified their ethnic background to be at least partly Canadian. That compares to 46.3 whose origins were British and 32.0 who listed French -- Canada's two founding cultures.
n With files from The Canadian Press.
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Honestly, how could a 2 or 3 storey parking structure be worse than that big lot? It's too bad parking wasn't addressed in the recent expansion.
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