City sets development record
Published Saturday January 10th, 2009
A1
By STEPHEN LLEWELLYN
[email protected]
Despite a drop in December, Fredericton's overall housing starts were up almost 10 per cent in 2008, says the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
According to its preliminary data, the annual single-housing starts in the capital were 475, compared to 432 in 2007, an increase of 10 per cent.
There were 223 multiple-unit starts in the capital in 2008. That's up 9.3 per cent from 204 in 2007.
In total, there were 698 housing starts last year, which is up 9.7 per cent from 636 in 2007.
"Usually when the housing market is doing well ... some of the drivers tend to be employment," said Claude Gautreau, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s senior market analyst for New Brunswick.
"If you look at Fredericton, it is a very diversified, dynamic economy."
Gautreau said the second driving force for housing growth is population migration, and in New Brunswick most of the new population has gone to Fredericton and Moncton in the last three to five years.
"More people means there is a need for more housing," he said.
Gautreau said the apartment vacancy rate in Fredericton in October was 4.3 per cent.
"That would be considered fairly normal," he said.
In 2007, the vacancy rate was 6.5 per cent, he said.
Frank Flanagan, director of development services for the City of Fredericton, said the capital had a record year in 2008 for development.
"In the last few years, of course, apartments, townhouses and condominiums have been becoming more and more popular," he said. "Last year, our subdivision activity was up to a record high."
Housing starts in Saint John were also up in 2008, but they were down in Moncton.
Single and multi-housing starts in Saint John were up 47.3 per cent to 832 for the year, while Moncton's were down four per cent to 1,359.
December housing starts in Fredericton were down 44.4 per cent to 30 units from 54. That includes a 10.5 per cent drop in single-housing starts from 19 to 17. Multi-unit housing starts were down 62.9 per cent to 13 from 34.
But Gautreau said the drop in December isn't a major concern. It could be caused by high growth earlier in the year "front loading" the market or it could be weather related, he said.
"You never want to look at one month and say that is a trend," he said.
Flanagan noted the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. measures housing differently than the city.
The city measures by building permits issued and the corporation measures by actual housing starts, he said. That means some projects that took out building permits in December might not have started in that month, he said.
"That doesn't concern us too much," he said of the drop in December.
Also the corporation only counts multi-unit housing projects of five units or more, said Flanagan.
That misses duplexes and smaller projects with three and four units, he said.
Saint John's total housing starts in December were down 8.3 per cent to 44 units, and Moncton was down 47.2 per cent to 123.
Flanagan said the city was looking forward to a good 2009.
"It is tough to set a record every year so we don't anticipate a record year," he said. "But indicators are still very good."
Gautreau said he's expecting a slight decline in housing starts overall in New Brunswick.
"Nothing significant," he said. "The housing market is cyclical."
Gautreau said there has been strong growth in the New Brunswick housing market for 10 years in a row.
"When you have a lot of growth, eventually you have to have a cooling off period," he said.
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New elementary school for north side possible
Published Saturday January 10th, 2009
A3
By JENNIFER DUNVILLE
[email protected]
solution for the aging Alexander Gibson Memorial Elementary School may be on the horizon.
The provincial government is expected to make an announcement on the school's future this month.
The 83-year-old Marysville facility is the No. 1 priority on School District 18's major capital-construction wish list.
A consultant's report said it would cost $7 million to build a replacement.
The provincial government's capital-construction funding announcement in December didn't support the project, though.
Education Minister Kelly Lamrock declined to comment on the project's status Friday.
While Wanda Bauer, District 18's director of finance and administration, doesn't know anything about the upcoming announcement, she hopes its a funding promise.
"We feel we were very fortunate to get $6.4 million for the construction of the new Boiestown-Doaktown school, but Alexander Gibson will most likely remain our district's No. 1 recommendation for funding next year," Bauer said.
"In the meantime, we will continue to do repairs at the school to make sure we meet compliance orders."
Alexander Gibson Memorial School was built in 1926. It has had some upgrades over the years, but Supt. Alex Dingwall said it would cost more than $6 million to bring the school up to current building standards.
Over the past year, the school required $1.4 million in new windows and was recently ordered by the fire marshal to have fire retardant paint applied to the school's indoor panelling.
"We have two major projects on the go in our district, so we sort of understand why we didn't get the funding in the latest round of announcements," Dingwall said.
"It's OK for our students to be in the school right now because we continue to maintain it, but the hope is that someday soon we'll be able to replace the school because we determined in our facilities review that a replacement is needed."
The new school, if approved, will be built on 12.7 hectares (31.7 acres) that has already been purchased at a location between Marysville and South Devon.
It will include the closure of South Devon Elementary School in order to combine the declining student enrolments of both schools.
The district spent the last year consulting with parents and school staff about the replacement of both schools.
A public vote was held during which 64 per cent of parents in Marysville and 61 per cent of parents in South Devon agreed a new school for the two neighbourhoods is the best option.
The combined enrolment of South Devon and Alexander Gibson is about 500.
Enrolment projections for 2011 - the earliest a new school could be built - show a population closer to 420 students.
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