Riverkeeper Proposes to Transform Landfill

Third Petitcodiac Renaissance Poster Unveiled

MONCTON, June 11 2004 - Petitcodiac Riverkeeper is proposing that the community work to transform one of Moncton’s greatest eyesores, the former riverside landfill, into an eco-tourism destination from where the Bay of Fundy’s majestic tides can be explored.

Named “The Wall / La Promenade”, the third of a four-part poster series entitled Petitcodiac Renaissance was unveiled this afternoon by young architect and artist, André Boudreau, at the Moncton Public Library in the Blue Cross Centre. A display that accompanies the poster, created by Boudreau during his graduate studies in architecture, will be on display at the Public Library until the end of June.

The poster introduces the idea that should a wall need to be constructed along the former Moncton riverside landfill to protect the site from future erosion, an aesthetic urban wall and ‘Promenade’ be built instead to benefit local residents and tourists.

How the community should deal with the old riverside landfill, 85 percent of which sits on a former area of cultivated marshland, and 15 percent sits on top of the original river channel next to the causeway, has been a thorn in the river debate for decades.

While previous studies into this problem (ADI 1992, Niles 2001) have focused their attention on the costs of such a protective wall ($7 million – rock filled), the Environmental Impact Assessment underway will recommend a location for the future opening in the causeway with the primary objective of limiting erosion at the landfill site. Results of this modeling exercise will be made public in the fall.

An aerial photo of the Petitcodiac River, taken in 1967 and displayed on the poster, shows the causeway-dam being constructed and large deposits of silt beginning to settle where the 15 percent portion of the landfill sits today. The 1967 image also suggests a possible location for the future partial bridge opening.

Riverkeeper is suggesting that, for a change, people in the community should look at the opportunities offered by this situation instead of focusing only on the negative. “Its time to get over the long held fears about this dump once we get rid of the causeway”, suggested Petitcodiac Riverkeeper Daniel LeBlanc, “and for people to understand what’s at stake. We’re not talking rocket science here,” says LeBlanc, “the questions that need to be answered are one: ‘will we ever need to build a wall?’, and two: ‘if so, what kind of rock-filled wall will be built?”.

With scientists and the government-sponsored $4 million EIA now stating that only free-flow will work to restore fish passage in the endangered Petitcodiac River, the Riverkeeper thinks that the community needs to start looking at the future.

The Petitcodiac Renaissance series, a set of four concepts designed to increase public awareness on the proposal to replace the Petitcodiac causeway with a partial bridge and to explore various opportunities associated with this restoration project, has this goal in mind.

The first concept, entitled “The Great Tidal Bores” and unveiled on April 21st, suggests that our region could reap as much as $100 million in benefits over a 10-year period through an aggressive program to promote and develop our tidal bore attraction. The second concept, entitled “The Gates / Le Monument” and unveiled by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. during his recent visit to Moncton, proposes recycling the five metallic gates of the causeway into a giant outdoor sculpture and public park.

The fourth and final poster of the Petitcodiac Renaissance series, entitled “Unforgettable Fire / Petitcodiac en Lumière”, is set to be unveiled on June 21st.

Click here to see the other posters of the Renaissance Petitcodiac Series

INFORMATION :
Daniel LeBlanc
Tel. (506) 388-5337
www.petitcodiac.org