New Brunswick

UNB wants to rezone part of woodlot for commercial development

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Strip near Knowledge Park Drive in Fredericton would change to research and technology zone

The University of New Brunswick wants to rezone a portion of its woodlot near Knowledge Park Drive to allow a commercial development to move forward.

The university sent a notice to Fredericton city council to begin the process of giving a strip of land a research and advanced technology zoning. The land is now zoned endowment conservation and endowment development.

The item came up at council Monday night, marking the beginning of a 30-day window for public input.

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John Bigger, associate vice-president of campus operations at UNB, said the university has received an expression of interest from a developer who wants to put up a building on the site.

Bigger couldn't identify the developer or say much about the proposal for the site.

The woodlot has about 45 acres, and the developer wants 11, he said.

The land in question is across the road from the Corbett Centre, and the development would not touch the Creighton Conservation Forest, he said.

Bigger said UNB is pursuing the project in the hopes it will generate some revenue for the university and possibly create jobs for UNB graduates down the line.

Fierce opposition to earlier projects

Development on the woodlot, much of which has been preserved for decades, has been the subject of controversy in years past.

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In 2007, concerned Fredericton residents gathered at Corbett Brook Marsh to protest against retail development on the woodlot's wetland. The development eventually became the Corbett Centre.

Two years later, the building of a Costco in the woodlot area provoked similar opposition.

Coun. Greg Ericson, whose ward includes the area, said he hasn't heard any concerns from residents yet but noted it's probably too early in the process to be hearing from the public.

By early Wednesday afternoon, the zoning application documents weren't even online for the public to look at yet, he said.

However, Ericson noted that this proposed development is focused on a very narrow strip along Knowledge Park Drive and is not as contentious.

"That's a different vision from their first attempt to take a much bigger part of [the] woodlot and turn it over to commercial interests," he said.

With files from Information Morning Fredericton