MONCTON, NB — It’s been years in the making, and now Moncton City Council is in it’s final weeks of deciding whether the city will see a multi-purpose events centre in Moncton’s downtown.
“We know, if we do nothing, to revitalize that piece of land, or our city centre, than we will have nothing,” said Councillor Pierre Boudreau on Monday, during a special council meeting.
The meeting was called to discuss two reports analyzing the economic impact of an events centre on the city. The reports identified reasons why the downtown core is growing weak, including a declining population.
The population in Moncton’s downtown has declined 10 per cent in the past five years, while the city’s total population has grown.
The reports, prepared by David Campbell, an economic development consultant with Jupia Consultants Inc., and Pierre-Marcel Desjardins, an economics professor at the University of Moncton, can now be found online.
Desjardins estimated 1,477 full time equivalent jobs could be created during the construction phase of the centre. He said about 494 of those created would be created directly in the Greater Moncton area, 219 indirectly created in the rest of the province and 764 indirectly created in other provinces.
“If your downtown struggles, it has more of a detrimental affect on other areas of the community,” Campbell said.
Councillors did identify a split in how people feel about a centre.
- What is a halal mortgage? How interest-free home financing works in Canada
- Capital gains changes are ‘really fair,’ Freeland says, as doctors cry foul
- Ontario doctors offer solutions to help address shortage of family physicians
- Budget 2024 failed to spark ‘political reboot’ for Liberals, polling suggests
“Some citizens and home owners say this is a no-brainer, we have to go forward with it,” said Councillor Merrill Henderson, “and then I do have others who are concerned about the increase in taxes.”
The proposed centre is supposed to have a 10,000 seat arena and convention centre, shopping, restaurants and condos. The estimated cost is pinned at roughly $105 million, a figure the city says it will need help with.
Council did mention they hope these two reports will act as vehicles to drive a response from both the provincial and federal governments.
For now, the city is turning to the public to see what they have to say about the project. On June 30, council is scheduled to vote on whether to purchase the Highfield Square land – a former shopping centre that’s been sitting empty for the past several months.
Mayor George Leblanc has said purchasing that piece of land will be the first step towards making the downtown centre a reality.
Comments