Province buys market
Published Thursday February 26th, 2009
Deal closes Friday | Price for property is $1.1 million
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By SHAWN BERRY
[email protected]
The provincial government is set to acquire the Boyce Farmers Market property for $1.1 million.
The Daily Gleaner has learned the transaction is to be completed Friday as part of a deal that will see the City of Fredericton lease the downtown landmark. Operation of the weekly market will be left to a not-for-profit board, Newmarket Properties Inc.
The city's five-year lease, at a nominal fee of $1 a year, begins April 1.
Business New Brunswick Minister Greg Byrne and Fredericton-Silverwood MLA Rick Miles, who both worked behind the scenes on the deal, said the province and the city are doing all they can to ensure market patrons don't notice any change in the coming months.
"It will be a seamless transaction. It will be business as usual," Byrne said Wednesday.
The $1.1-million price is below the $1.5 million York County Properties was seeking. It's also above the 2008 property assessment of $800,500.
The purchase was approved by the provincial cabinet earlier this month.
"We're pleased that the market will continue to exist long into the future and be a venue for local vendors, local produce and products (such as) samosas," Byrne said.
The market is integral to the local economy, he said, and it's an icon for culture and tourism.
"This ensures it will continue to be in operation," said Byrne, who's among the throngs of Fredericton residents who have plenty of memories linked to the market.
He remembers getting up early on Saturdays as a child and heading down to the market with his father, Paul.
"We'd watch the crowds, watch the market being set up, talk to vendors and I'd have a treat of fresh-baked cookies,'' Byrne said.
Today, he likes to get a little taste of everything.
"I like the fresh-squeezed orange juice, fresh bread, samosas and whatever else catches my attention. That's the beauty of the market. It has something for everyone."
Byrne said separate boards are being set up for the market building and for the Saturday operations.
He said Fredericton-area MLAs felt strongly that the province needed to buy the property. The province leases the market property on weekdays to provide parking for civil servants.
If the province hadn't used its first rights to purchase the building, the property could have gone onto the market to be sold to commercial or residential developers.
"We could not risk that this property might undergo a different use."
No staffing changes are planned, he said.
Miles said all four local MLAs worked hard on the file.
"It touches home with a lot of people. It's important to us that the market remain," he said.
Miles said the market has always been part of home for him. When he was stationed in Germany as a radar operator with the Canadian Forces, he thought about what people would be doing at the market on Saturday.
"I missed not being able to go," he said. "And when I would come back, I made sure I went."
Former mayor Elbridge Wilkins said it wasn't his preferred outcome, but he's happy with it nonetheless.
"I'm very pleased that the government is taking it over and the city is going to help operate it," he said.
"It's the second best thing that could happen," said Wilkins who was the York County council member from Douglas in 1966 when county councils were being disbanded and the council had to find a way to protect the council's assets.
His preference would have been to see a market board get the $1.1 million so it could invest in improvements.
"This is a lot better than it landing in the hands of someone else and being pressed out of existence," he said. "I think it's going to work out."
The market, which opened in 1951, came about when English immigrant William Walter Boyce, who made his money in agriculture and lumber, left $40,000 out of his estate to the Municipality of York to build a market to replace the former Phoenix Square market.
While some have questioned whether York County Properties had the right or the authority to sell the market, Byrne said the province has no concerns.
"We were aware of some of the concerns over the property. We did seek a legal opinion over whether York County Properties had legal ownership and the right to sell. We were satisfied they had the requisite rights to sell the property."
Ken McGeorge, executive director of York County Properties, said it also sought legal advice on the issue.
"There have been all sorts of lawyers looking at that question and there is no question we own it. The title is free and clear of any encumbrance. The only restriction was that we offer it to the province first."
McGeorge said the group had always planned to sell to someone who would maintain the market under its current vocation.
He said the board of York County Properties, which also operates York Care Centre, wanted to divest itself of the market and devote its efforts on health care for the elderly.
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Water supply won't be affected
Published Thursday February 26th, 2009
Up the hill | Wellfield officer says impact from Costco minor
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By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
[email protected]
Building a Costco store at the University of New Brunswick's Corbett retail centre will have virtually no impact on the city's drinking water supply, says Fredericton's wellfield protection officer.
The development at the top of Regent Street doesn't fall within the city's wellfield protection area. Even so, the Corbett Centre was reviewed by a hydro geologist who was asked to provide the city with advice on the proposed location of the Costco store.
"The groundwater contribution to the (drinking water) aquifer from the Costco development footprint would be less than one-tenth of one-half of one per cent," said Kathy Edwards, the city's wellfield protection officer.
"If this contribution is removed, the water will simply be replaced by an increased amount from the river.
"The effect on groundwater withdrawals from the downtown plat will be negligible."
Members of the Friends of the UNB woodlot and the Conservation Council of New Brunswick have raised concerns about the impact of developing the area for retail shopping, contending it will affect water recharge in the Fredericton area.
Their concerns were raised at a recent public meeting called as part of a Department of Environment review of a modification to the shopping centre's environmental impact assessment approved in 2007.
As a point of principle, the two groups oppose any type of big box or retail development on the university owned wetland.
The developers have submitted a store layout design that reconfigures storm water management ponds controlling surface runoff from the parking lot and wholesale bulk store building.
Because of the design change, storm water management ponds have been repositioned and reshaped requiring a return to the province for approval of an amended environmental impact assessment.
The City of Fredericton and the provincial government mapped out a wellfield-protection strategy for the capital city in order to protect the deeply drilled wells in the downtown core that draw up water supply that's recharged by the St. John River.
In the downtown areas closest to the drilled wells, the city has banned dry-cleaning establishments and provided financial incentives to relocate them because the chemicals used in the cleaning process could destroy drinking water.
Storage of petroleum products and other potentially water-contaminating products are strictly regulated in the downtown core, but even in the downtown, the city hasn't banned gasoline stations.
"We've looked into recharge and what impact the (Costco) development might have," Edwards said.
"The bulk of our recharge for our aquifer comes from the St. John River through the ground."
Surface water also recharges the ground, but the groundwater contribution from the Costco footprint isn't significant, she said.
Edwards said Fredericton has a vested interest in checking on the impact of development on water supply.
As for concerns about a proposed gasoline bar as part of the Costco development, Edwards said gasoline stations are permitted in the wellfield protected area.
"The technology today is far and above what it used to be in terms of protecting land and water, compared to what it was," Edwards said.
The strictest rules on protecting the city's water supply are imposed in the downtown area, closest to wells.
What the Regent Street wetland does control is storm water and the absorption of rainfall from the top of the hill, which is naturally absorbed into nearby Corbett Brook.
City engineering and public works director Murray Jamer said the city requires all developers to create storm water management plans when they develop property.
So, whether it's a housing subdivision or a retail shopping centre, Jamer said the onus is on the land developer to deal with storm water attenuation to a standard of zero net increase in peak flow.
"For any development, it's the developer's responsibility to attenuate whatever increase in flows there may be," Jamer said. "With every new development, we make that a requirement."
Through techniques such as creating water detention ponds, engineers can come up with ways to slowly release collected water back into the natural environment, in this case, gradually back into Corbett Brook.
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Province to invest in five local businesses
Published Thursday February 26th, 2009
Hard to come by | Official says it's difficult for small businesses to get capital
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By DON MACPHERSON
[email protected]
The province is expected to announce financial support for five businesses today in and around the capital region.
Business New Brunswick Minister Greg Byrne is expected to announce more than $300,000 from the NB Growth program will help create 24 jobs and maintain 25 others spread out among five businesses.
Among the businesses receiving funding is Howell Ventures Ltd. in Upper Kingsclear, a company that manufactures hand controls for disabled drivers.
Today's announcement is scheduled to take place at the Howell Ventures facility, The Daily Gleaner has learned.
Howell will create three jobs with the funding, which will also go to supporting 11 jobs.
A government source told the Gleaner that in total, more than $300,000 in government funding will be doled out among the five businesses.
The other four businesses involved in today's announcement are:
* the Learning Bar Inc. in Fredericton, which received funding for its expansion to meet the growing demand for its services as an online school-survey provider;
* E9 Group Inc. in Lincoln, which has developed a social-networking web application with an environmental focus and will get startup funding;
* Fredericton-based Lawrence Wood Products, which receives funding for expansion;
* and Jemseg's Gebhardt International Cedar Homes Inc., which gets funding for diversification and improved productivity.
The funding comes from the province's $3-million NB Growth program, which was established in October 2007.
The source said today's job announcements are modest in scope compared those made at previous government job-creation news events, but it's in keeping with the philosophy that most job creation happens at the small-business level.
It's difficult for small businesses to access capital, especially in the current economic climate, he said Wednesday.
The NB Growth program not only puts funds in the hands of those businesses, the source said, but that financial support in turn makes the businesses more attractive to other sources of capital.
The program provides eligible entrepreneurs with up to $100,000 to establish a new company and up to $60,000 to expand or improve an existing one.
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