[Moncton] East (Harrisville, Lewisville, Tankville, Irishtown) Developments

[MonctonRad]

Proof that this land has been purchased by MID, and will be the home of Moncton's fifth industrial park.

Moncton eyes opening fifth industrial park as companies move in, expand
President of JessEm Tool Company says relocating from Ontario to Moncton made financial sense
Shane Magee · CBC News · Posted: Dec 01, 2020 6:00 AM AT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...owth-1.5822084

This article is about MID in general, and the JessEm Tools relocation to the MID West Park in particular, but includes interesting information about future expansion plans across from the Romeo LeBlanc Airport.

In 2018, MID purchased wooded land between Shediac Road and Route 15. The 132-acre parcel is northwest of the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport.

Recent logging on the parcel has driven speculation of development in the area, though Dupuis said it was partly because they needed to remove old oil tanks from the property.

He said market demand, which has been "surreal" lately, will drive when the area develops. He expects it could be within one to five years.

The comment about "speculation" is interesting. I think this is indirect proof that the CBC pays attention to our boards too.

[MonctonRad]

From MLA Greg Turner's FB page:

New solar-powered neighbourhood launched in Moncton
December 2, 2020

Moncton, N.B. – A new neighbourhood under construction in Northeast Moncton - called North Branch – will become New Brunswick’s first solar powered neighbourhood. Today, NB Power, along with partners Solaire Homes and Siemens Canada, has launched this new project that will see up to 100 highly energy efficient and “zero energy-ready” homes built.

These homes will have the latest smart energy technologies, such as home energy management systems, rooftop solar panels and smart energy storage batteries.
This new development will be an economic driver for the region and province with a provincial information technology workforce building the technological platforms for global markets and local trades and craftspeople building the homes and installing the technologies.

The fully tech-outfitted homes are expected to range in price from $270,000 for a semi-detached to $400,000 for a single-family home with energy savings more than expected to cover any extra costs in construction materials and for the technologies. The neighbourhood is expected to eventually include up to 100 homes leading to an increased municipal and provincial tax base and serve as a renewable energy-powered showcase for the City of Moncton.

The goal of North Branch is to create a self-sufficient neighbourhood where NB Power and Siemens can learn from homeowners looking to take advantage of new smart energy technologies. Each home will be built to the highest energy efficiency standards and consume energy being generated by their own solar panels and stored in their own home battery. Each of the homes will function as its own unique nanogrid to optimize the home’s energy use - while also being connected to the neighbourhood microgrid. Home-generated solar energy will be traded and exchanged in a variety of scenarios including between homes, up to the microgrid and out to the main grid. Essentially each homeowner will be their own micro-electric utility trading with their neighbour.

Siemens Global Smart Grid Research and Development Centre in Fredericton will build the in-home nanogrid and the neighbourhood microgrid platforms which will serve as the energy management systems for the homes and the neighbourhood overall. The department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development provided funding for the leading-edge technology components of the project in January 2019.

This neighbourhood energy exchange will allow NB Power to work with customers to better understand their evolving energy needs as it relates to future energy management options. It’s a future where there is wide-scale adoption of these smart energy technologies, and homes and businesses become independent entities - or nanogrids - and turn to the grid only for back-up and support. That kind of scenario has significant technical and financial implications for utilities and their customers, and this new smart energy neighbourhood will help NB Power learn about and prepare for that potential future.

The North Branch Smart Energy Neighbourhood Project in Moncton is part of a four-year federally funded research and demonstration program called Smart Grid Atlantic that includes NB Power, Siemens and NS Power. Smart Grid Atlantic is aimed at determining how smart energy technologies can provide customer, community, and provincial benefits, while reducing our energy use and our carbon footprint. The first Smart Energy Community Project has been underway for about a year in Shediac with nearly 500 homes participating, and the new North Branch Smart Energy Neighbourhood will be the first new neighbourhood in New Brunswick to support this kind of research. A third sister project to the work underway in Shediac and North Branch is expected to be announced in 2021.

[MonctonRad]

This project has been grumbling along for some time, with the first iteration I believe called "The Village at Hall's Creek" (if I recall correctly). Only a few houses were built at that time , and the developer went under. The name "North Branch" refers to the north branch of Halls Creek, and the site of this development is in the eastern part of the "Vision Lands", next to the cluster of francophone schools, either built or under construction.



There is a CBC article concerning this project from earlier this year:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...omes-1.5467975

Details were sketchy at that time, and no formal announcement had been made. I guess this post by Greg Turner serves as the formal announcement.

Local MP Ginette Pettipas-Taylor has a similar announcement on her Facebook page:

Big news from our partners at NB Power / Énergie NB today as they announced the launch of a new solar-powered neighbourhood in Moncton as part of the Smart Grid Atlantic project!

Smart Grid Atlantic is a four-year federally funded research and demonstration program that includes NB Power, Siemens and NS Power. It is aimed at determining how smart energy technologies can provide customer, community, and provincial benefits, while reducing our energy use and our carbon footprint.

The first Smart Energy Community Project has been underway for about a year in Shediac with nearly 500 homes participating in the research, and a third sister project to the work underway in Shediac and North Branch is expected to be announced in 2021.

[L'homard]

Indeed, Moncton Rad. Being from the neighbourhood, I can remember this being announced for at least a decade (though it was sans the super=energy-efficient homes aspects at that time.)
Maybe if they keep announcing it annually, something might come of it.
I'm just being snarky I know. Frank McKenna's PR director used to do the same thing, announcing something annually for two years, then announce it again when it was time to break ground, then distribute the funding over a few years so they dcould announce it annually for several more years LOL.
Hey it worked for them.
Frankly, other than the high prices of new homes, I'm not sure why the Vision Lands haven't taken off. I've taken a spin through there and it's quite lovely and now with yet another school added. and a Costco and other commercial within walking distance.

[MonctonRad]

The Metepenagiag First Nations development on the SE corner of Harrisville Blvd and the TCH has received $2.4M in federal funding to allow for the current levelling and servicing project presently underway.

[habs33]

City of Moncton has posted about plans for street reconstruction of Hennessey next summer. This street is in bad shape and is overdue to be repaved.

Hennessey Road Reconstruction - 2021

[L'homard]

Originally Posted by habs33

City of Moncton has posted about plans for street reconstruction of Hennessey next summer. This street is in bad shape and is overdue to be repaved.

Hennessey Road Reconstruction - 2021

With Mclaughlin now rebuilt, Hennessey becomes the leading contender for the award for "Worst Street In The Known Universe."
Traffic will be hell for most of the year when this gets done, but it is not avoidable. It will be great when done.

[habs33]

Originally Posted by L'homard

With Mclaughlin now rebuilt, Hennessey becomes the leading contender for the award for "Worst Street In The Known Universe."
Traffic will be hell for most of the year when this gets done, but it is not avoidable. It will be great when done.

i live in that area for good junk of my life and don't ever remember it being stripped an paved. lol

Also part of this project will be the installation of new traffic signals at the Hennessey Road / McLaughlin Drive intersection and asphalt multi-use path on the south side of the road.

[L'homard]

Originally Posted by habs33

i live in that area for good junk of my life and don't ever remember it being stripped an paved. lol

Also part of this project will be the installation of new traffic signals at the Hennessey Road / McLaughlin Drive intersection and asphalt multi-use path on the south side of the road.

Good point, I too am from the area and can remember when the road was first built. I too can't recall it ever getting more than patches.
I also saw where there will be a multi-use paved trail on the south side but didn't see anything about new traffic lights. They just installed new lights this year, but for sure traffic lights can be taken down and used elsewhere. I must have missed that part.
With the boom in traffic up there with new schools and new commercial developments, I can only pray they do something to mitigate the traffic snarls. I'm not sure what they can do about it, with the TCH overpass being a chokepoint.

[Manny2727]

does anybody know of plans for development on Harrisville Blvd., between shediac road and dieppe Blvd.? there's a kent and a mariott only with a lot of room left. it seems a while back there was all kinds of talks of development and now there's nothing at all.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Manny2727

does anybody know of plans for development on Harrisville Blvd., between shediac road and dieppe Blvd.? there's a kent and a mariott only with a lot of room left. it seems a while back there was all kinds of talks of development and now there's nothing at all.

There were grand plans. The entire west side of Harrisville between Highway 11/15 and Shediac Road belongs to Corey Craig, and they wanted to build a big box plaza there. The land between the Kent store and Highway 11/15 on the east side was a finalist for the location of the new Costco store. When Costco decided to build on Granite Drive instead, any development plans for Harrisville went off the cliff. Add this on to the retail apocalypse that has occurred over the last few years, and you can see why there are nothing but crickets to be heard on Harrisville Blvd.

Dieppe has ambitious plans for the southern extension of Harrisville (Dieppe Blvd), and they have been generally well executed. Moncton on the other hand has no grand plan for Harrisville Blvd. With the retail apocalypse and an abundance of land available for commercial development elsewhere in the city, I doubt that Harrisville is destined to be a retail mecca. I could see maybe a grocery store or maybe a small plaza near the Kent, but aside from this the city needs to find a different destiny for Harrisville. I imagine this destiny will be medium to high density residential. Given the proximity to the airport, this will have to be relatively low rise (six storeys or less).

[L'homard]

Indeed, that whole area was rezoned for commercial in anticipation of Costco.
Corey Craig wisely snapped up most of the area but unfortunately it didn't pan out.
Almost everyone in the know was saying a Costco for that area was a done deal. I would suggest that the "dog bone" overpass/roundabout was built in anticipation of the Costco moving in, though the transportation minister of the day told me personally that was not the case. Whether it was or was not, any transportation minister would never admit that, "Yeah, we're building a new overpass for a multi-billion-dollar corporation with your tax dollars," so you can take his assertion or leave it.
I suspect MonctonRad's prediction is spot on, with one caveat: I think the wider area will experience significant residential growth in the next decade and we will see a neighbourhood commercial plaza there within 5 years or so. Just a guess, I know nothing.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by L'homard

I would suggest that the "dog bone" overpass/roundabout was built in anticipation of the Costco moving in, though the transportation minister of the day told me personally that was not the case. Whether it was or was not, any transportation minister would never admit that, "Yeah, we're building a new overpass for a multi-billion-dollar corporation with your tax dollars," so you can take his assertion or leave it.

One thing which leads me to suspect that you are correct about the reasoning for the "dog bone" interchange is that the westbound exit ramp off of the 11/15 leading to the dog bone is built "double wide', so that there would have been one dedicated northbound lane which would have led directly to Harrisville and to the Costco (if it had been built). Instead, we have a single exit lane on a double wide section of tarmac.

I would posit that the DOT changed the configuration last minute after the Costco decision to build on Granite became known...........

[L'homard]

Would not be surprised.
I don't necessarily object to taxpayers funding ramps and roads leading directly into a private commercial enterprise with an over flowing bank account.
But politically it isn't wise to frame things that way. I remember the trsp. min. causing a huge uproar when he unwisely used language that framed the construction of an offramp from Wheeler Blvd directly into a new Home Depot as taxpayers help the store owners with tax dollars. It caused a controversy that ran rampant in the local media for many days. Politicians, at least older ones, remember that and will ignore the lesson at their own peril.
Funny, when they built a ramp directly into the parking lot of the Superstore on Main Street from the Dieppe traffic circle, no one to my recollection batted an eye lash. I would think the fact that no one in government framed the project as NB taxpayers buying a new road for the multibillionaire Weston family had a role to play in the lack of a shit storm.

[Manny2727]

i noticed that they did some tree cutting between harrisville exit and the highway 2 exit off the 15. it's not a full cut however so not sure what they're doing in there.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Manny2727

i noticed that they did some tree cutting between harrisville exit and the highway 2 exit off the 15. it's not a full cut however so not sure what they're doing in there.

We discussed this the previous page. The triangle of land on the SW corner of the TCH/15 interchange now belongs to MID (Moncton Industrial Development). It is being groomed to become the city's fifth industrial park. Development is slated for approximately three years time.

[MonctonRad]

The explosion in the growth of the industrial sector in greater Moncton continues:

Manac Trailers plans to build a 14,000 square foot "plant" in the Moncton East Business Park this year.



Manac is the largest manufacturer of semi trailers in Canada.

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The explosion in the growth of the industrial sector in greater Moncton continues:

Manac Trailers plans to build a 14,000 square foot "plant" in the Moncton East Business Park this year.

Interesting. Have they disclosed which lot this will be built on?

[MonctonRad]

This image below shows all the lots available and sold so far (as of June 2020) in the Moncton east Business Park:



All of the lots sold so far back on the TCH (for visibility from passing traffic). Presumably the Manac facility will occupy one of these.

[Photo1]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The explosion in the growth of the industrial sector in greater Moncton continues:

Manac Trailers plans to build a 14,000 square foot "plant" in the Moncton East Business Park this year.



Manac is the largest manufacturer of semi trailers in Canada.

I'm surprised, with the amount of freight that passes through here, that there hasn't been one before now. Good to see though, more jobs and another business here.