I’ve written about this before, but I will do it again. Moncton City Council, from what I’ve seen, is extremely dedicated to not extending the serviceable boundary of the City. When developers come along (and they do), wanting new developments outside of what our recently approved (January) Municipal Plan dictates, they don’t generally get anywhere. However, there is one that has recently come before us (initially at our June 16th public meeting and twice since that) that we (so far) are approving (we had the first reading of the by-law amendment on Monday night…there will be two more readings which will ironically take place in one meeting…so if you don’t agree with this, speak now!). The land in question is just north of the TransCanada along Elmwood Drive (you have probably driven by and seen that the land has been cleared). The proposed development is on 71 acres and is expected to contain a new Elmwood Home Hardware (with lumber yard…in fact it is the owners of the EHH that are doing this). So, the development, which is within the city limits and is already zoned Highway Commercial, could completely go ahead without extending the boundary, so why would Council even consider doing this? I’ll tell you why: it makes economic and common sense. Normally, if something is beyond the serviceable boundary, we wouldn’t provide services (sewer, water, etc.), because the boundary is based on existing infrastructure capacity and is intended to accommodate the projected growth of the city over the long-term. However, there is a cost benefit analysis case to be made in this particular situation. First, there are only a couple of highway commercial areas within the urban boundary capable of accommodating such a development (given the size requirement, proposed land use, the need for a safe access point and without creating a nuisance to potentially sensitive neighbouring lands, i.e., this isn’t a development that would fit in the downtown). Secondly, a servicing study was done that indicates that the site can be serviced by the existing sanitary sewer and water main works on Elmwood Drive, but by connecting the area to City services, this would allow for a better and more efficient use of the land (i.e., it would support other businesses on these parcels too). It also showed that over the next 25 years it would bring a net benefit of over $7 million to the city (taking all services (traffic, engineering, environmental) into consideration). I am no fan of urban sprawl (or of this kind of development either, but I do realize the space difficulties of having a lumber yard in a denser area), but in this case, where the land is already appropriately zoned and would be developed anyway, I believe that by connecting to the services is in the city’s best interest. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. #inPoli
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 00:40:06 +0000
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