Provided by City of Moncton
Moncton City Council has approved a legal agreement with six landowners in the western portion of the Vision Lands.
The deal means the landowners will contribute $150,000 toward a master planning process which the City will undertake.
Those landowners include J.D. Irving, Cordova Realty (now Thrive Properties) and numbered companies.
The City has also budgeted to spend $85,000 on ancillary planning services which includes almost 500 acres of land.
In total, the Vision Lands covers about 1,400 acres of largely undeveloped land bordering Mapleton Road, Wheeler Boulevard, McLaughlin Drive and the Trans-Canada Highway.
The eastern portion has already been planned or is being developed.
Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold said she would like to see a national urban park created in the Vision Lands under a Parks Canada program announced earlier this summer.
“The federal government has committed to every province getting at least one within the next decade. So it may be a great win-win opportunity to create a national urban park while at the same time protecting this really important part of our community.”
Provided by City of Moncton
Councillor Daniel Bourgeois also wants to see parkland created in the undeveloped lands.
“My vision is… a Central Park… right in the middle of it. A huge chunk of land in the middle, let’s say 500 metres on both sides of North Creek (North Branch Halls Creek) to maximize this piece of pristine property.”
But Bourgeois expressed doubts about the agreement itself and he was the only councillor to vote against it.
The City will hire a consultant through a request for proposals process to carry out the planning.
Public consultations will also be held.
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