[Moncton] Northwest/Magnetic Hill Developments

[MonctonRad]

This will serve as a placeholder for discussions on future developments in the northwestern section of Moncton:

Below is a siteplan for the Mountain Woods residential golf course development. This is already partially built, with current construction centered around a street connector between Gorge Rd and Mountain Rd (intersecting at Homestead Rd), and the first of the residential condo buildings (four stories tall).

[JasonL-Moncton]

That street connector between Gorge and Mountain will be incredibly useful during concerts at Magnetic Hill...what is that bright 'pink' blotch near the top, anyone know?

[MonctonRad]

This image is from the Plan Moncton document and shows the future rezoning map for the northwestern part of the city.



I find this interesting in that it shows the extent of land around Mapleton Road that is being designated mixed use commercial (coloured orange). There is a second node of mixed use commercial in the Magnetic Hill area, including land behind the casino fronting on Charles Lutes Road. There is some land has been zoned Highway Commercial around the Gorge Road exit off the TCH. Finally, there is a large block of land zoned mixed use commercial located behind the present Northwest Centre.

[MonctonRad]

This is the agenda for the GMPDC for their March meeting:

http://www.gmpdc.ca/webcura/files/807.pdf

One item of interest is a request by Bob Steeves for variances to "allow the floor space of a retail building to exceed 1,500 sq meters, allow more than two buildings on a lot and to allow two driveway access points" for a property located at 1909 Mountain Rd.

This address corresponds to land that he owns which is located between the Swiss Chalet and Barnaby's Furniture. There is a sign on the property indicating what he plans to build.



Now, his plans may have changed as the sign only indicates a single driveway access onto Mountain Rd, but in any event it would seem reasonable to assume that there may be some movement on this project this summer. When this plaza is built, the entire north side of Mountain Rd between Gorge Rd and Meadowdale Dr will be fully developed as commercial property.

[MonctonRad]

The Golden Eagle restaurant has moved next door to the old Happy Wok location. This leaves the old restaurant available for lease.

[Good2go]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The Golden Eagle restaurant has moved next door to the old Happy Wok location. This leaves the old restaurant available for lease.

After a thorough cleaning...

http://www1.gnb.ca/0601/uploads/819F...2422644317.PDF

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by Good2go

After a thorough cleaning...

http://www1.gnb.ca/0601/uploads/819F...2422644317.PDF

Wasn't NB supposed to get rid of that "Be...In this place" thing?

[mmmatt]

Originally Posted by NBNYer

Wasn't NB supposed to get rid of that "Be...In this place" thing?

Its a slow transition...I just got a new-to-me car in December and they are still giving out the Be...in this place plates...they will continue untill the supply is depleted.

[MonctonRad]

The Subway restaurant in the former Royal Bank building at Valhalla Place is getting ready to open. The signs are now up and a couple of them are lit.

They are retaining the drive-thru from the bank. I can't imagine ordering a made-to-order submarine sandwich at a drive-thru, but I guess it can be done. The new Swiss Chalet just down the block has a drive-thru as well.

[kirjtc2]

One of the Subways in Fredericton has had a drive-thru for years.

It's not really different from Harvey's when you think about it...

[benvui]

There is a Subway in Riverview on Pinewood that used to have a drive-thru, not sure if they still use it or not

[Nashe]

The Subway in Dieppe has a drive-thru. (Behind NBLC)

[MonctonRad]

The Subway restaurant at Valhalla Place opened today.

[MonctonRad]

Just recieved an e-mail about this:

Next Wednesday, April 18th, there will be an open meeting at Evergreen Park School to present a Vision of a community and activity centre for Moncton North.

City councillors, planners, engineers and concerned citizens have been very hard at work over the past year.

The vision has plans and artisitic drawings to fire the imagination, but some highlights include:

Water Park
Year round tennis courts
Climbing wall
Elevated 4 season walking track
Meeting rooms
Outdoor activity area for all 4 seasons including skating.

Please keep an eye out for an announcement in the paper, but plan on coming out next week at 6:30.

This sounds like an interesting development. There has been grumbling in the northwest end for some time that there are precious few recreational resources in our part of the city despite our growing population of 25,000 people or so. There appears to be some action happening on this front. I was expecting something along the lines of a Kay Community Centre, but it appears that the vision encompasses something a whole lot more.....

[MonctonRad]

From today's T&T

Your ideas wanted for new rec centre
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Times & Transcript
By: Shannon MacLeod

City of Moncton wants input from residents on North End Recreation Centre

The City of Moncton wants to know what you want in a new recreation centre for the north-end neighbourhood.

The initial rendering of the proposed North End Recreation Centre will be unveiled at a community open house at Evergreen Park School tomorrow.

Read more:
http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=8791

Since I live in the neighbourhood, I hope to get out to this presentation. If I do, I'll take some pics of the initial renders.

[MonctonRad]

As promised, I went to the presentation regarding the Moncton North Community Centre.

Unfortunately, I had to leave early (prior engagement) and didn't have a chance to take any pictures of the renders. Hopefully the city will post them on their website.

The presentation was very professional, complete with computer animations and flyby views. A lot of work and consultation has already gone into this proposal.

In a nutshell, this is what we have:

- A major community recreation centre designed to appeal to all ages.
- It will be built on 22 acres of city land immediately adjacent to Evergreen Park School.
- I'm not sure of the cost, but from what I saw it would have to be at least in the $15-20M range. The city already has $2M set aside and is looking for federal and provincial support.
- The footprint will be very large, at least 4/5th's the size of Evergreen Park School.
- Access to the facility will be by a new driveway off Clermont Street. There will be parking here, and also in the existing parking lot for Evergreen Park School.
- The building will be two floors. There will be a reception desk on the main foyer at the entrance. A large climbing wall will be visible as you enter the facility.
- The second floor will be a lounge and cafe overlooking all of the other facilities in the building. Parents could have a coffee and relax in the lounge while watching their kids via large viewing areas. There will also be a 200m walking track on the second floor.
- On the first floor, there will be reservable community meeting rooms. On the north end of the facility there will be an indoor skateboard/BMX track, including ramps and foam pits for perfecting stunts. On the south end, there will be an active indoor play area, including trampolines and more foam pits amongst other play equipment.
- Adjacent to the indoor play area, would be an outdoor water splash park.
- On the other side of the building would be an outdoor (but covered) skating facility, convertible at other times of the year to basketball courts etc.
- There might be an indoor six court tennis facility.
- There would be an adjacent soccer pitch.

Overall, this is a very impressive proposal and looking at it, I was somewhat reminded of the Mainland North recreational centre in Halifax. They are of course not comparable, but the idea is the same - to have a truly unique recreational facility in the north end of the city, unlike anything else in Atlantic Canada.

[MonctonRad]

Forum brings positive results for community centre
Friday, April 20, 2012
Times & Transcript
By: Shannon MacLeod

Citizens provide input on what they'd like to see in the new north-end facility

The people of the north end of Moncton would like to see a pool in their end of town.

The City of Moncton hosted a community open house at Evergreen Park School to unveil the initial rendering of the proposed North End Recreation Centre Wednesday night.

However, one thing that residents at the meeting felt was missing from the rendering was a swimming pool. Last May, the city of Moncton hosted a consultation process to find out what citizens would like to see in a recreation centre.

The consultant on the North End Centre is Jim Scott from Collab-Plan, which is a landscape, architecture and planning studio based in Moncton.

'The consultant took that information and presented a concept (Wednesday) night that incorporated most of their ideas,' said Nicole Melanson, spokesperson for the City of Moncton.

Some of those ideas were an indoor skate park, a 35-foot tall climbing wall, interactive play-structures for children, a water feature like a splash pad outside, a cafe lounge, outdoor courts for a variety of sports for summer which will then be converted into an outdoor skating rink during winter.

read more:
http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=8817

Apparently, when the city put in services for Evergreen Park School, they upgraded the water supply and sewer system on the assumption that a pool would eventually be built there. Some of the citizenry attending the meeting was well aware of this, as well as of previous promises of a pool for the north end. They made a persuasive arguement and the city promised to look at the issue again. I presume that if a pool were included in the proposal, something else would likely be lost, like the indoor tennis facility or the covered outdoor skating facility. In any event, this is a very positive development for the north end.

This is the best I can do at present for an initial architectural rendering:



This is viewing the proposed recreational centre from the south. You can see the roundabout and main entrance to the facility in the centre of the drawing. Evergreen Park School is visible to the back left of the building. The coverered (but outdoor) skating rink/basketball courts are the the left.

[MonctonRad]

It would indeed appear that the plans for the land on the north side of Mountain Road between Swiss Chalet and Barnaby's Furniture have changed.

while this was the original plan for the site:


It has been replaced with this plan:


I prefer plan #2. It would allow for better visiblity for all the storefronts from passing traffic on Mountain Road, and also would match very closely the style of Bob Steeves other strip mall just up the street (Valhalla Place).

It would appear that Moncton North is beginning to develop a real downtown.

[MonctonRad]

There was something about this plaza in the paper today. Construction is imminent (May), with the plaza likely opening in September or October. There will be 10 units available in the main strip, with a satellite pad also available (like the Subway at Valhalla Place). A number of the units are pre-leased, but Bob Steeves would not say what stores and services will be coming.

[MonctonRad]

Bella Promessa, a new bridal shop, is opening in the last remaining vacant unit in the Unison strip mall at the corner of Mountain Road and Hildegarde Drive.