Latest news with #ShapeYourCity
CBC
30-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Saint John adds a green focus to industrial park plan
'Emitting' industries would be barred from Spruce Lake park, but residents not reassured Saint John has revised its controversial plan to expand the Spruce Lake Industrial Park, shifting the focus to attracting businesses from the green and clean sectors and not heavy industry. Lorneville residents opposed the expansion of the nearby park out of fears for the environment and community life, but the latest draft plan would prohibit any businesses from an "emitting" industry, such as one with smokestacks. The plan originally focused on making hundreds of hectares "pad ready" and redesignating the area for potential heavy industrial use, but did not specify sectors. The changes follow feedback a task force gathered from residents of the community on the southwestern edge of Saint John, which the city heard "loud and clear," said David Dobbelsteyn, the city's director of growth and community services. "We're very confident … we actually have a proposal here that sort of meets the needs the communities are looking for in terms of feeling more secure and protecting the environment," Dobbelsteyn said. "But also ensuring that we create venues for more jobs and more growth for the region that's in desperate need of it." At a media event this week, two development groups spoke in support of new proposal, saying the city is seeing global investment interest from green and clean businesses but needs readily available land to accommodate them quickly. "Clean and green energy, green manufacturing, data centres, warehouses — there's all kinds of interest from different industries," Ian MacKinnon, director of Saint John Industrial Parks, said this week at a media event about Spruce Lake. MacKinnon and Envision Saint John's CEO Andrew Beckett both said the need for the land for these industries is critical because many interested businesses won't wait if they have to go through a complicated rezoning process. "You would be adding months, if not years, to the process," Beckett said. "Businesses will say we can go elsewhere. They want certainty in terms of where they're going to be." In October, the city hit the breaks on the original plan for the Spruce Lake expansion because of the concerns raised by residents. Although the city created a task force for discussion with residents, the pushback escalated as the meetings continued over the winter. One last meeting was held April 23, and the updated proposal was posted on the city's planning website Shape Your City on Friday. As part of its argument for the expansion, the city says companies typically require 40 hectares per site for development, but property that size is not available or properly zoned elsewhere in the city. The draft plan for Spruce Lake would increase a buffer around the park to 250 metres from 150 and nearly doubles the minimum setbacks for "volatile" industrial uses to 500 metres from 300 metres. Uses such as asphalt, concrete or cement plants, fertilizer manufacturers, lumber, paper and pulp mills, and similar developments would be prohibited. The proposed plan also says the city wouldn't allow development on provincially significant wetlands and would only allow development on other wetlands if there was a clear business case for it. A public hearing and a council vote on the draft will be held on May 12. Lorneville resident Adam Wilkins, a leader in the opposition to the expansion and chair of the task force, said the proposed changes don't reassure him or other community members. "We're not against economic development or jobs in the city," he said. "But at what cost? Is it the risk to health and safety for the people that live here and live nearby, the risk to environment and climate change resilience?" Residents want more information Even requiring the new businesses to be clean or green doesn't address a main concern of the community members, he said. They still don't know exactly what will go on the land. "How do you put restrictions on something that doesn't actually exist yet?" he said. "If there was a business attached to what was coming, you could know what the pros and cons are, what the risks are …but there is nothing there." Beckett and MacKinnon said they could not reveal what businesses have expressed interest in Saint John. Dobbelsteyn said companies often prefer not to be identified so their competitors aren't alerted and potentially get to an opportunity ahead of them. "So there's really sensitive negotiations with site selectors when they're identifying where could developments go," he said.
CBC
31-03-2025
- General
- CBC
Saint John's Rainbow Park being significantly reduced to build new school
Large sections of Rainbow Park — an area built to provide recreation space and a playground for people living in Saint John's south end, an area with high levels of poverty — will be removed to build a new school. When the new school is built, there will still be a park space, but it will be smaller and with restrictions on local use. The new school, which will educate about 450 students, is being built to replace the Prince Charles and St. John the Baptist/King Edward schools. St. John the Baptist/King Edward School is on St. James Street in the lower south end and Prince Charles School is on Union Street, next to Prince Edward Square. After construction, community members who aren't students will only be able to use the park outside of school hours, according to Saint John's Shape Your City website. The new school will be bordered by St. James Street, Sydney Street and Charlotte Street, according to Marc Dionne, director of parks and public works. Dionne said that all existing trees will be cut down. New trees, however, will be planted. "The Rainbow Park playground is going to be removed as part of the new school footprint," Dionne said in a recent interview. The existing Jumpstart playground will remain, as will the splash pad. "When we revitalize this area, we're also going to include a new tiny tots playground [and] some green space for the public to sit," Dionne told Information Morning Saint John. Several key elements of the park will also be reinstated, he said, including the community gardens, dog park and the Turner Brewer Memorial. The Turner Brewer Memorial is a memorial garden in honour of John Turner and Jacqueline Brewer, who died separately in the mid-1990s as a result of parental abuse. The memorial was put up in 2017, about 20 years after their deaths. The park used to have a plaque in their memory, which mysteriously disappeared years ago. The city has long a development plan for the area, but work has only recently begun. Dionne said the plan's first stage will be removing trees to make room. Next, the city will revitalize the corner between Broad Street, Charlotte Street and Sydney Street. The group that runs the south end community centre PULSE (People United in the Lower South End) is keeping an eye on the changes at Rainbow Park. In a statement, centre chair Heather Chase expressed pleasure for the "ongoing investments" and "the development of the new school," but said the community must be kept aware of all changes to the neighbourhood and be "actively involved" in the process. "We are particularly looking forward to continued dialogue on several key issues, including the community garden, the Brewer-Turner Memorial, replacement of affordable housing units, and the impact of the new school on recreational assets and playground equipment," the statement said. Chase said the group understands restricted access to playground equipment for safety reasons, but also hopes the city continues to work with them to maximize benefits. Details of the plans are available on the Shape Your City site.
