The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[DyAm00394]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Council notice says “multi-building” although St Pats is one building. Maybe build on parking lot too?

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Previously it was mentioned in the listings when the property was for sale, that "this would make for an incredible 30-40 unit residential retrofit with plenty of parking in addition to adding potentially 8-10 townhouses off Lancaster (subject to approval)".

[cdnguys]

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[cdnguys]

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[sailor734]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

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Agreed. Given the prominent location I really hope whoever gets the property does a significant and quality development.

I assume it's SJ Energy owned right now? Is it officially for sale?

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by sailor734

Agreed. Given the prominent location I really hope whoever gets the property does a significant and quality development.

I assume it's SJ Energy owned right now? Is it officially for sale?

The city has a quasi ownership of SJE that even the city fully doesn’t understand - so I’m guessing an internal sale like when the city purchased the parking commission properties.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

The city has a quasi ownership of SJE that even the city fully doesn’t understand - so I’m guessing an internal sale like when the city purchased the parking commission properties.

Yes, the relationship between SJE and city hall is not well understood. Owned by the city but by long tradition it is very much an arm's length relationship. People in Saint John have quite a favourable view of SJE.....much more so than of city government. Remember a few years ago when council was making noises about taking cash dividends out SJE's "profits"? There was a huge upswell of opposition.

I think most Saint Johners feel that SJE is an efficient and effective service provider largely because it is not run by SJ city hall.

[cdnguys]

I just hope there are no contaminants. Used to be a coal plant ages ago if I recall history properly.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

I just hope there are no contaminants. Used to be a coal plant ages ago if I recall history properly.

Yes and in addition to the Dock St power plant (until 1976).......https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=77558 the Parker D Mitchell coal docks were in that area too (although I think they were more where York Point condos are now). I suspect there isn't much of the harbourfront that doesn't have industrial contaminants of some sort although I think much was covered up by the wharf rebuilding that happened from the 1930's to 1950's.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by sailor734

Agreed. Given the prominent location I really hope whoever gets the property does a significant and quality development.

I assume it's SJ Energy owned right now? Is it officially for sale?

Site ownership is complex. I mapped it out here: https://imgur.com/a/qXB8hss

In addition to the blue area that is owned/leased/who knows what by SJ Energy, there's two city-owned lots (yellow) which include a lane on Smythe, some rocky beach, and about 2/5 of the parking lot. The larger, n-shaped, of these must be a relic of when the substation was created. The port (red) owns much of the remaining parking lot and about 4 car lengths of Smythe. Lastly, most of the NE corner of the lot is not associated with a PAN or PID.

It wouldn't be too hard for the city to shear off the waterside sections and Harbour Passage as Lands for Public Purposes (shaded green), and the eastern strip as a new sidewalk/median (unshaded). It's the Port piece (orange) that would take time. I don't think they would oppose it of course, it's just very complex for the feds to part with port land, or even lease it to something non-port-related.

The best bet would be to start at the south end of this block and work north. I mentioned on another thread, I think the airport thread, that Saint John is missing an extended-stay hotel. This would be a good place for one. 55,000 sf.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Site ownership is complex. I mapped it out here: https://imgur.com/a/qXB8hss

In addition to the blue area that is owned/leased/who knows what by SJ Energy, there's two city-owned lots (yellow) which include a lane on Smythe, some rocky beach, and about 2/5 of the parking lot. The larger, n-shaped, of these must be a relic of when the substation was created. The port (red) owns much of the remaining parking lot and about 4 car lengths of Smythe. Lastly, most of the NE corner of the lot is not associated with a PAN or PID.

It wouldn't be too hard for the city to shear off the waterside sections and Harbour Passage as Lands for Public Purposes (shaded green), and the eastern strip as a new sidewalk/median (unshaded). It's the Port piece (orange) that would take time. I don't think they would oppose it of course, it's just very complex for the feds to part with port land, or even lease it to something non-port-related.

The best bet would be to start at the south end of this block and work north. I mentioned on another thread, I think the airport thread, that Saint John is missing an extended-stay hotel. This would be a good place for one. 55,000 sf.

Agree on the hotel idea. Something like a Residence Inn would be a great (and badly needed) addition to the uptown.

[cdnguys]

I’m curious how much energy SJE is getting from these high winds, or if they stopped them to avoid damage.

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

I’m curious how much energy SJE is getting from these high winds, or if they stopped them to avoid damage.

In most cases they stop them when the winds are this strong, most stop automatically above 85-90 km/h

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by darkharbour

In most cases they stop them when the winds are this strong, most stop automatically above 85-90 km/h

Here’s hoping all of the building cranes have been set to weathervane. I wonder if they have lowered the booms on the conventional cranes at FundyQuay?

[DyAm00394]

There was an item on tonight’s agenda from Committee Of The Whole. It was related to the Retail Drive realignment project. “The city enter into a revised amended restated land acquisition agreement with Clearview Homes Ltd. For the purpose of exchanging lands”.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

There was an item on tonight’s agenda from Committee Of The Whole. It was related to the Retail Drive realignment project. “The city enter into a revised amended restated land acquisition agreement with Clearview Homes Ltd. For the purpose of exchanging lands”.

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2291270723942

I see a roof blew off a fairly new apartment building in the south end. You have to wonder about building codes (or if they are being followed) if a roof won't take an 80-85km gust

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by sailor734

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2291270723942

I see a roof blew off a fairly new apartment building in the south end. You have to wonder about building codes (or if they are being followed) if a roof won't take an 80-85km gust

Fairly new? That building is ancient. It was renovated recently but who knows if they did anything with the roof.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Fairly new? That building is ancient. It was renovated recently but who knows if they did anything with the roof.

Ah, I stand corrected. It looked relatively modern in the video clip.

Point remains though. Are our current building standards sufficient for our increasingly frequent severe weather?

[homebody]

Originally Posted by sailor734

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2291270723942

I see a roof blew off a fairly new apartment building in the south end. You have to wonder about building codes (or if they are being followed) if a roof won't take an 80-85km gust

Peak gust yesterday at YSJ was 104 km/h. Source: Environment Canada

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by homebody

Peak gust yesterday at YSJ was 104 km/h. Source: Environment Canada

Yeah, I saw that. Wind is a funny thing . Top speeds can vary quite widely in a given area. I don't know if it's location or topography or location of the actual anemometer but the airport always seems a bit high in terms of wind speeds compared to other stations. The weather buoy in open water off the mouth of the harbour reported one max gust of about 50 knots ( 92.6 kph) and everything else was the equivalent of 70's and 80's (kph). That location should have been pretty accurate yesterday in terms of max speeds as the wind was south and SSE....coming across 40 miles of open water with nothing to deflect it.

Unfortunately, the station at the cruise ship terminal has been offline for about three weeks. It would probably have the most accurate record of conditions close to where the roofing failure happened.

Regardless, yesterday wasn't anything unheard of in terms of wind and is the type of thing that will happen with greater regularity in the future. Both in terms of stronger tropical/post tropical storms and winter Nor'easters. My point was we should be building and retrofitting/renovating with that in mind.

[DyAm00394]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

There was an item on tonight’s agenda from Committee Of The Whole. It was related to the Retail Drive realignment project. “The city enter into a revised amended restated land acquisition agreement with Clearview Homes Ltd. For the purpose of exchanging lands”.

Here's the full document:

"SUBJECT: Retail Drive Realignment - Timeline Update and Changes to Amended and Restated Agreement.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE REPORT FOR OPEN SESSION OF COUNCIL
Aligning the intersections of Ashburn Lake Road and Retail Drive at Rothesay Avenue into a single intersections has been a long-standing priority for the City. In order to realign this intersection, the City must acquire certain properties. Minor amendments to the existing Land Acquisition Agreement between the City and Clear View Homes Ltd. are required to adjust some timelines related to land acquisition that will enable the construction to proceed in 2024.

COUNCIL RESOLUTION
That the City enter into a revised Amended and Restated Land Acquisition Agreement with Clear View Homes Ltd., in the form as presented to Committee of the Whole at its December 11, 2023 meeting, for the purpose of exchanging lands, and that the Mayor and Clerk be authorized to execute the said revised Amended and Restated Agreement and any documents ancillay thereto or necessary to give effect to the transaction."

https://pub-saintjohn.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=16563