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Moratorium sought on riverfront park development
Riverkeeper encourages tri-community to embrace new restoration
vision
(Moncton – September
8, 2005) – With the restoration of the mighty Petitcodiac
mere months away, and a new life about to re-emerge along our
riverfront, Petitcodiac Riverkeeper wants the three municipalities
of Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview to put a moratorium on any further
development along the riverfront until a major visioning exercise
takes place in the community.
The last time that such
an exercise took place in the Greater Moncton region was 15 years
ago when the Washington-based non-profit organization, Waterfront
Corporation, helped Moncton draw its first riverfront development
blueprints. From that visioning session came the boardwalks, the
trails and the wonderful Riverfront Park that all have come to
enjoy. “The timing is right for our community to revisit
this vision,” suggests Riverkeeper Daniel LeBlanc, “and
we need do it within the next 2-6 months, not 5 or 10 years down
the road.”
One of the Riverkeeper’s
main concerns regarding riverfront development is protecting the
public’s right to access the river, to be able to walk to
the river, throw a fishing line in the river, launch a kayak,
a zodiac or any other watercraft in the river to ride the majestic
Bay of Fundy tides or even to properly see the river.
Riverkeeper had originally
planned to promote the visioning exercise for 2006, but three
unrelated developments in the tri-communities convinced the organization
that this discussion needed to take place sooner. On a strategic
location along “the bend” in Dieppe where a former
wharf used to stand, a new strip mall is being developed with
its back on the river and which obstructs the view of the Petitcodiac.
An opportunity seems to have been missed to create an attractive
waterfront development project on this site.
In Riverview, plans are
afoot to redevelop the former fire station on the Petitcodiac
riverfront. This site is home to the last remaining public access
point entering the tidal river on the Albert County side of the
Petitcodiac. “Will this river access site be kept open,”
asks the Riverkeeper?
Finally, the Verdiroc Convention
Centre project, in the heart of downtown Moncton, took an unsuspected
turn this week when a partner in the project proposed sectioning
off a parcel of Moncton’s prized Riverfront Park, an area
also containing remnants of the City’s former historic wharfs,
to develop a hotel complex on the river’s edge. Since the
Verdiroc negotiations began with the City of Moncton five years
ago, never before had there been public mention of the City contemplating
selling off any section of the riverfront parkland. The developer
is asking the City to sell this 2-acre parcel of public land to
his company, within the next three weeks, even though the zoning
does not allow a hotel project to be built on the property.
This proposal, which comes
at the eleventh hour of the Verdiroc negotiations, will have long
lasting impacts on the Moncton riverfront. Riverkeeper is therefore
asking Moncton to hold off on this proposal until the community
has had time to develop a long-term vision for the riverfront.
As an alternative, Riverkeeper today unveiled plans to increase
the size of the Riverfront Park at this location so that the community
can hold larger public events.
INFORMATION :
Daniel LeBlanc Tel. (506) 388-5337
info@petitcodiac.org
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