From today's T&T (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/14582180)
Plan Moncton seeks to map city's future
Published Wednesday November 23rd, 2011
Update provided on project which is aimed to help develop a new municipal plan
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by cole hobson
Times & Transcript Staff
With the help of public consultation and feedback, the Plan Moncton committee has adopted five key themes to help guide the city's future development.
Bill Budd, executive director of the Greater Moncton Planning District Commission, explains a zoning map to some citizens following the Plan Moncton session on Tuesday at Moncton City Hall.
Plan Moncton is a public-consultation process aimed at developing a municipal plan and zoning update, in mapping out a long-term vision for the city and guides as to how and where development will take place in the future.
Over the past six months, the committee has been reviewing existing municipal plan policies, studying recently approved plans by city council and exploring new ways of addressing the priorities expressed by the community earlier this year. The public consultation process saw over 700 participants submit thousands of ideas.
"Your ideas varied between colourful and attainable, wild and realistic, caring and exciting," city councillor and Plan Moncton chair Merrill Henderson said to the group of citizens gathered at City Hall yesterday for an update on the project.
The five key themes of the Plan Moncton exercise, that will form the basis of a new municipal plan, are: Embrace Nature, Complete Streets, Complete Neighbourhoods, Balanced Density and Downtown.
Ginny Cosgrove, a senior planner with GMPDC, outlined each of those themes yesterday.
For Embrace Nature - which deals with such items as watershed protection, urban forests, climate change and parks - Cosgrove said implementation of the city's recently-adopted Parks Master Plan will be key. She also noted that the city's Integrated Community Sustainability Plan identifies a number of ways to help green the city.
"We want to create a more sustainable city, one that is more walkable and transit-oriented and where people can meet more of their needs closer to home," she said.
Cosgrove highlighted the importance of the complete streets concept, which consists of avenues that "cater to everyone, to walkers, to cyclists, folks taking the bus and those who are driving." She said the city is soon going to be developing a new Sustainable Transportation Plan, which will allow the city to address many of the concerns expressed by residents.
Further to the concept of complete streets, Cosgrove also touched on the complete neighbourhoods concept, which would allow citizens to meet most of their daily needs close to home. "We heard from seniors in this process, about a real desire to be able to stay in the neighbourhood, to age in place and have the supports in the neighbourhood to help ... Having the right kind of housing, having the right kind of care and not being isolated," she said.
The balanced density theme focused on population growth, density, urban/rural boundaries and infrastructure. Cosgrove said Moncton's population is expected to grow by 19,000 people over the next 25 years and that there is sufficient land within the existing urban boundary to accommodate that growth. She said the focus for the future will be on ensuring density targets are at sufficient levels, with residential development downtown being a key goal and driver.
That also touched on the final Plan Moncton theme, which is downtown and, in particular, getting more density and growth in the city's core.
Of course, the often-mentioned downtown Metro centre could be key to the city's development and growth and when the floor was opened to questions, the executive director of the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce wanted to know where that project fit into the Plan Moncton initiative.
"We've been talking about the multi-functional centre and we still hear about it, we still hear talk about it, but yet it's always in the talk, but nothing yet is happening," said Nancy Whipp.
Kevin Silliker, the City of Moncton's business development officer, provided an update.
"The City of Moncton has prepared a business plan. We've been working with the federal government, and the agency (Public-Private Partnerships Canada) for over a year now in creating the business plan. We've also been working with the province of New Brunswick and also partners in the project such as the local hotel association, as well as downtown Moncton," he said.
"We've submitted our business plan to the province and also the federal government and that is essentially what we're waiting for, a response on details from the federal government on whether they are going to support the project. The City of Moncton, our job is done. It's complete at this time."
Bill Budd, executive director of the GMPDC, provided an update on the zoning by-law review. He said they have been reviewing their zones in order to make a simpler and more efficient system that will help support Plan Moncton's overarching goal of promoting more growth in the city.
"We're hoping as a committee to review all the feedback and be in a position early in the new year to present a new plan and zoning by-law to city council," he said.
Moncton resident Jeff Arsenault also rose to the mic yesterday to question what the city plans to do to bring more affordable and quality housing into the downtown.
"I think you could do all the things that are in everybody's dreams and nothing is going to happen until there is a really good residential downtown," he said.
Budd countered that the city has been on the right track in that respect and simply needs to stay the course.
"In terms of municipal, we're trying to target I think 80 to 100 residential units each year into the downtown. When we look at what the commission and city have been working with over the last year or two, we're starting to see real progress in attracting new development, which will bring more people and which will help support a more revitalized and vibrant downtown," he said.
As part of yesterday's exercise, citizens were also asked to fill out a survey, saying if they liked or didn't like various ideas presented by the committee. The survey is not yet available online, but will be available for those who attend the next Plan Moncton consultation, which takes place tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. at city hall.
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! I doubt that it can support more that 3-4 floors. I thought that the original plans were 2 buildings, 6 to 7 floors high??
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