[Moncton] Northwest/Magnetic Hill Developments

[BlackYear]

Here's an update on this project. Sunday evening shot.

[MonctonRad]

Great shot!

[MonctonRad]

This item was on Mayor Dawn Arnold's FB page this evening:

an application from Skipper Jack’s (211 Mapleton Road) for a rezoning (from Community Use (CU) and Open Space and Conservation Zone to Suburban Commercial (SC) .

Not much meat there, but it appears Skipper Jack's wants to reorient it's parking area and entrance/exit off of Mapleton Road and on to Carson Drive and Hopper Street. They all want to increase the amount of available parking by filling in a portion of Rabbit Brook (this will be controversial).

I would also say that their building must be in for a revamp too. Certainly their main entrance will now be facing Carson rather than Mapleton. I wonder how extensive the renovations will be???

[Nashe]

And here's a big-un:

Moncton OKs 'huge' north end development

[MonctonRad]

It's a go!!!

Moncton OKs 'huge' north end development
Moncton-based Cordova Realty plans to construct six six-storey buildings over five to 10 years
Shane Magee · CBC News · Posted: Jul 21, 2020 7:00 AM AT | Last Updated: July 21
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...ment-1.5656307



Phase one construction will begin next spring.

And, as per concerns raised in our forum regarding traffic demand on the nearby roundabout:

A traffic study of the plans concluded the existing road network is adequate to deal with increased traffic from new residents, though calls for a new crosswalk where Holland Drive will intersect with Twin Oaks.

As well, it says the roundabout may begin to reach its capacity in about 10 years, which may prompt the need to add right turn bypass lanes for eastbound and northbound traffic.

And, regarding the possibility of a new Anglophone high school in the neighbourhood, ward councilor Bryan Butler made this comment:

growth in (the) ward should prompt the province and school districts to look at adding a high school in the area.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Vorkuta

And here's a big-un:

Great minds.

We posted at exactly the same time.

[Nashe]

LOL, I must have beat you by literally SECONDS.

I've lived within an hour of Moncton my entire life and I can easily say the amount of multi-unit residential going up is unprecedented. Not to mention SFH residential real-estate is selling like gang-busters right now. It's wild.

[jonny golden]

Cordova has so many plans on the table. This is a big one, along with the Riverview 10 story project. Both are game changers for their respective neighbourhoods.

[BlackYear]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

It's a go!!!

Moncton OKs 'huge' north end development
Moncton-based Cordova Realty plans to construct six six-storey buildings over five to 10 years
Shane Magee · CBC News · Posted: Jul 21, 2020 7:00 AM AT | Last Updated: July 21
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...ment-1.5656307

Question. I read a few comments within the CBC web site about people complaining about affordable housing. What price range is affordable housing?

We've seen developers build pretty impressive massive apartment buildings in the past couple years and they all seem to be renting out at a respectable pace for them to continue and build another.

So if there is still a market for apartments ranging from $1200-$3000 for 2 bedroom units, am I to assume the folks asking for affordable housing is somewhere between $800-$1200? If so, I see plenty of rentals around town at that price.

[Taeolas]

FB and CBC commenters are always going on about "affordable pricing".

And if we had more vacancy, or if these apartments and condos weren't being filled before the shovel hits the ground, they might have a point.

But vacancy is so low in Freddy and Moncton, that we basically need all the housing units we can get, and then some. There is no slack in the housing market right now, which drives up prices all around.

The other factor is, these big projects tend to hit the news because they usually need bylaw amendments or are just big projects. What doesn't hit the news are all the smaller projects that are built with no buzz, usually with simpler apartments in cheaper areas, that are more suited for more 'reasonable' rental and condo prices. When all the news reports on are the big projects, then people draw the conclusing that that is all that is being built, when it is far from the case.

While we do need to make sure we are keeping an eye on the housing market in general, and doing our best to make affordable housing available; at the moment, even with COVID, our markets are just too hot. Which makes these big projects plausible. And once all the units being built come on the market, hopefully it will increase the vacancy rates, which will lead to prices dropping, increasing affordability. But we're probably still a year+ before we are at that point, one way or another, even with all these projects happening across the province.

[Photo1]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

It's a go!!!

Moncton OKs 'huge' north end development
Moncton-based Cordova Realty plans to construct six six-storey buildings over five to 10 years
Shane Magee · CBC News · Posted: Jul 21, 2020 7:00 AM AT | Last Updated: July 21
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...ment-1.5656307



Phase one construction will begin next spring.

This is quite the undertaking, will change that area even more, wow!

[L'homard]

From my observations of online chatter about affordable housing these past few years, most are talking about apartments that someone on welfare can afford, because Moncton has lost a lot of rooming houses in recent years.
I believe the welfare rate in NB for a single employable person is in the neighbourhood of $560 per month.
So, yeah......

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by L'homard

From my observations of online chatter about affordable housing these past few years, most are talking about apartments that someone on welfare can afford, because Moncton has lost a lot of rooming houses in recent years.
I believe the welfare rate in NB for a single employable person is in the neighbourhood of $560 per month.
So, yeah......

I agree.

It is very unreasonable for people to continually berate developers for not building "affordable housing." Developers are not running charities. They are trying to make a reasonable profit and rightly so. They are also responding to market demand for quality rental housing.

If these people want to complain, they should take it to the provincial government and demand that subsidized housing be built for those who cannot afford market rates.

I sympathize with the plight of the underhoused, and something should be done about this, but this is not the developers problem. This is society's problem, and as such, requires a societal (government) solution. Lay off the developers please..........

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by L'homard

From my observations of online chatter about affordable housing these past few years, most are talking about apartments that someone on welfare can afford, because Moncton has lost a lot of rooming houses in recent years.
I believe the welfare rate in NB for a single employable person is in the neighbourhood of $560 per month.
So, yeah......

I have a couple of rental properties and unless they are perfectly optimized, even with equity involved, you don't make much per unit. Definitely gets better with higher-unit-count buildings, but if you are making $500/month (above ALL expenses/taxes/mortgage, on a duplex, say) it only takes one major repair to eat up your profits (and chunk of your equity) for 2 years or more. I can't fathom what sort of building I could own where I could afford to rent out at under $600/month for a single bedroom apartment... it would have to be a hole. Renters mow through things like ranges, refrigerators, dishwashers, washers and dryers a lot faster than a typical home owner, for example. They also don't care as much about keeping windows perfectly closed in the winter, etc.

[L'homard]

I personally favour government subsidized apartments being placed in regular everyday run of the mill apartment buildings.
I remember that they put a few in that new(ish) apartment building that is right beside the newspaper building downtown. I chatted once with two tenants who told me how much it affected their lives, to have, for the first time in their lives, a safe, clean and decent place to live. Before, they were living in social housing, which some might call a ghetto, with no hope for a better futur and no reason to hope.
They had both gotten jobs in the meantime, and while neither of them earned much, their rent being only a portion of their salaries left them half-humane levels of income to afford half decent food and clothing.
One tenant credited her apartment for in large part compelling her to get off bad dope.
I would rather see my tax money invested in places like this, than many of the compounds in which society warehouses poor people these days.
Geez, even the worst of the condos used for housing for federal prisoners behind the fences at Dorchester Penitentiary are in better shape than a large proportion of provincial social housing.

[MonctonRad]

I have no problem with included social housing within larger apartment developments. The percentage should be small (no more than than 10%), and obviously the developer requires a government subsidy for including the discounted rental units.

Doing this obviously helps to prevent ghettoization, and helps integrate lower income families into the community. I am sensitive to this because I grew up in inner city Charlottetown, but because of the way the school district boundaries were drawn, I went to West Kent School which was located in the Brighton neighbourhood which included the highest quality residential areas in the city. The school was the best elementary school in the city, and I was friends with a lot of better off kids. I'm sure this had an influence on me (for the better).

[MonctonRad]

They are starting work on floor #6 at Emma Place

[MonctonRad]

I see that they have completed a gravelled walking trail connection between the new Maplehurst Middle School and the adjacent Northwest Trail. This means that many students will now be able to walk or bike to school on the Northwest Trail rather than on the streets. This is a very worthwhile investment!

[MonctonRad]

Regarding Skipper Jack's and Rabbit Brook, I must admit that I am a little conflicted.

I am not a fan of burying the natural watercourses that run through our city. For example, Humphrey Brook and the adjacent trail are delightful. The same goes for Hall's Creek through Mapleton Park and Jonathon Creek through Centennial Park (and of course the incorporated Jone's Lake system). These waterways provide our city with greenery, scenic variety and a natural routing for our trail system. We should try to preserve our creeks to the best of our abilities.

Having said this however, Rabbit Brook at Mapleton is little more that a weed filled ditch, and I really doubt there are any fish in the brook at this point anyway. The brook passes under Mapleton Road in a long culvert, and all this development would be doing is extending the culvert by another 40m or so. Apparently the city owes Skipper Jack's some additional parking from a previous agreement. The reorientation of the restaurant, and the movement of the driveway away from Mapleton Road makes sense to me. I think I would be willing to allow this rezoning to pass.

Although I have a healthy appreciation for the protection of waterways in the city, I also strongly believe that rezoning requests should be judged on their merits, and not rejected out of hand. On the whole, I approve of this request.

[shazapple]

I don't see why they can't accommodate their desired 60 parking spots in other ways, especially since they are replacing about 30 of their existing parking spots for grass...

I would expand the existing lot to the edge of the stream. The city could allow some on street parking or expand bus service. The owner could strike a deal with the carwash next door to expand his parking instead.

I agree, it's not the prettiest ditch, but it takes time for things to grow, and they can't grow in a paved over culvert. The city should consider the impact this will have on stormwater management, biodiversity, snow clearing, etc. Once these area's are covered over they rarely go back.

Also, these designs always look nice with their little bushes and trees everywhere but those always seem to get 'forgotten' in the final product.