https://twitter.com/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/school-sites-flawed-say-planners-1.5755152
New school sites reflect outdated development policies, say planners
Land use professionals say climate change and health need more weight in building decisions
· CBC News · Posted: Oct 12, 2020 7:00 AM AT
The Education department says a total of $17.68 million was allocated in 2020-21 for construction of the new K-8 school in Hanwell. Tendering and construction was delayed about six months by the pandemic. The school is now expected to open in September 2022. (Jennifer Sweet/CBC)
Controversy over the location of a new school in Moncton has drawn attention to the fact that New Brunswick does not have development policies that prioritize modern planning goals such as climate change adaptation or healthy living.
It also raises questions about a new school project in the education minister's riding.
The proposed location of the new school in Moncton, next to Bernice MacNaughton High School, will mean very few students will live within walking distance, and those who do would have to cross one of the city's busiest streets to get there.
In that sense, it repeats a pattern from several years back, when a new location was chosen for Moncton High School.
"Today the majority, if not all, of the children attending the school must be bused," said Jamie Burke, president of the New Brunswick Association of Planners.
"And housing is cropping up on unserviced lots around the school rather than on readily serviced lots within the Moncton city limits."
Jamie Burke is president of the New Brunswick Association of
Planners. (He also works for the Town of Sackville as chief
administrative officer.) (Submitted by Jamie Burke)
A similar situation is playing out in the Rural Community of Hanwell, a recently incorporated area along a 25-kilometre stretch of Route 640 southwest of Fredericton, where a new K-8 school is being built.
There is one neighbourhood within 2.4 kilometres of the school, but it's across a busy highway with no sidewalks.
And one-acre building lots are now being sold in undeveloped wooded areas nearby.
The new K-8 school in Hanwell is being built next to Route 640, which has a gravel shoulder and no sidewalks. (Jennifer Sweet/CBC)'
The planners association has been asking the province for decades, said Burke, to adopt provincial planning policies to guide development and address the problem of urban sprawl.
"What we're trained to do and what we're trying to do as professional land-use planners is direct new development in the right place," he said.
The NBAP represents 68 registered professional planners who work for municipalities, consultants, and the provincial government. They do things such as administer zoning bylaws and work with developers on new building projects.
And they plan land use, taking into account a wide range of factors, from social and cultural needs and esthetics, to efficiency, the economy and environmental conservation.
"From an economics point of view and efficient delivery of services, we try to put it in strategic areas where, for example, services already exist, such as water, sewer, storm, transit — reducing the need for people to rely on private automobiles."
Hanwell promotes itself as a community that strives to maintain a rural feel and provide a high level of services. (Jennifer Sweet/CBC)
The planners pointed out in a report submitted to government in 2016 that growth in the urban-rural fringe undermines the viability of communities by affecting the growth and tax base of municipalities.
"The belief that growth at any cost is good for the economy is no longer sustainable," said the report, prepared by Dillon Consulting.
The attraction to build on the fringes is understandable, said Burke. Property is often cheaper there.
"There's no doubt we need new schools and we are an urban and rural province. There certainly needs to be a balance."
What's also needed, he said, is an improved level of communication between the stakeholders, including municipalities, the Department of Education and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.
Strategic areas where new schools could be located should be identified that work for everyone, Burke said.
Education Minister Dominic Cardy said he wanted to keep politics out of school site decisions but agreed that municipalities should have a say.
Education minister Dominic Cardy says school siting policies may be reviewed as part of a municipal reform process. (Radio-Canada)
The location of the new K-8 school in Moncton was recommended by staff in the departments of Transportation and Infrastructure and Education and Early Childhood Development, he said, who have "expertise in this area."
The team is made up of the senior project manager and director from the Education Department's facilities and transportation branch, staff from the Transportation and Infrastructure Department's property services branch, and engineers and architects from its design and construction branch, said department spokesperson Tara Chislett.
Cardy said they take into account things such as cost, access to services and amenities, future growth in the neighbourhood, safety issues and suitability of the existing land.
"The same criteria you would have for picking any new build project," he said, "and trying to connect that to the people you were hoping that new building would serve."
A new school can increase demand for property nearby. (Jennifer Sweet/CBC)
As with the recent decision about the Moncton school, there were also complaints in Fredericton when the Hanwell school site was selected.
The city had been planning for a new school in a new neighbourhood in its southwest end, with serviced lots, high population density and sidewalks.
"Our new Municipal Plan needs to be part of any planning process for new schools," said Mayor Mike O'Brien, noting the city's growing population.
Cardy said it's always a challenge to build schools in urban areas.
"You don't have large parcels of land available or affordable."
That's why new schools tend to be built on the edges of communities, he said.
"That's part of the way urban development works when you have population growth," he said.
Cardy anticipates facing a similar challenge in the near future as George Street Middle School in Fredericton has to be replaced.
"It's difficult to see where in downtown Fredericton right now you could build that new school."
But Burke said putting schools on the outskirts of communities also comes at a high cost.
"Planning decisions and the locations of certain land uses, particularly schools, can come with extremely expensive repercussions if they're not put in the right place."
Growth in Hanwell represents urban sprawl from Fredericton, but at least it's not entirely unplanned.
Hanwell enacted a revised zoning map in 2016. (Hanwell Rural Community)
The rural community adopted a zoning plan in 2016. It sets objectives such as minimizing environmental impact and requires applications for new large subdivisions.
Elsewhere, on more than 60 per cent of the land mass in the province, there is no plan to regulate and control land use, according to the Dillon Consulting report.
"We have a huge area unincorporated outside municipal boundaries," said Burke.
"Some have rural plans, some don't. Where there is no local land use planning, people are free to do what they want with their property."
Protection of the province's most renowned natural features, such as rivers, forests and coastlines, is "unco-ordinated," said the planners report, "to the point that there has been a gradual erosion of the value of the natural environment."
Their report was prepared in cooperation with provincial planning directors with funding from the Environmental Trust Fund.
The goal was to look into and promote the modernizing of planning legislation.
The project started in 2014 and the final phase was completed in 2018.
Recommendations were made for planning policy statements in five areas: climate change adaptation, flood plain development, health and the built environment, coastal development, infrastructure investment and transportation planning.
Planners have identified these as "essential areas that need attention," said Burke.
He's hopeful action will be taken in the near future.
"Really and truly, I think we do need them."
Cardy said he looked forward to issues such as school siting being included in coming discussions about local government reform.
With files from Shane Magee/CBC
Methinks its blatantly obvious that Cardy had to say that in order to keep his better half and her new buddies Burke works with Happy Happy Happy or she would likely stuff his butter tarts in the gas tank of his ugly yellow motorcycle N'esy Pas?
Not really. "Education minister Dominic Cardy says school siting policies may be reviewed as part of a municipal reform process." This is a complete turn around of Mr Cardy's original position of "no discussion", seems the song and dance routine is not just limited to Mr Higgs, mighty strange.
It is cost effective. Cheaper to bus a student than pay someone $60k snd oneion for life. We'd need several times the teachers we have now. Unless you advocate the old one roommschoolhouse approach where one teacher teaches ten grades and nobody learns anything,
Sure he will. 2 years have passed since he was picked Grand PooBah, and nothing has been "fixed" yet, he has another 4 year run. When do you *think* he might start? 12th of never is my guess.
Listening to and following any consultant report.
You are forgetting the reason for the consultant's report in the first place.
Deflect any blame.
Well at least it's only a school and not $125 Gsmes with nothing to show afterwards,
*$125m
Too bad that any "great things" Mr Cardy does will only be in his own mind.
yeah i'm amongst the slow witted...how's bout you tell us about it
The majority of the road has been widened, with only the center stretch left to be done, sidewalks or paths added to the majority of the route etc.
Especially if it's liberal. But true for all parties. Not just in NB but everywhere. Course the same could be said for individuals as well. Looking out for themselves and their own. Hard to blame government when everyone does it,
We get the gov we elect. It's always at the end of the day on the people.
The issue was that they were poorly planned.
This new school will increase the need for bussing not reduce it.
Short term yes, long term no.
I think you'll find the industrial,park over the decades converting to residential
So? One cannot walk through an industrial park to get to school?
Nobody takes the bus anyway. Most dropped off by mommy or daddy.
Like the libs didn't do anything differently,
Like the NDP, social credit and other parties in charge across Canada didn't do things differently.
Here's a quick lesson. There's no unclaimed land. It is all owned by someone.
*closed
The death rate is less than the flu. Relax.
Everything isn't closed, either. They could have put a little more effort into that article, imo
Helping prevent the spread is NOT panicking,
As I said, everything SHOULD BE closed for a dsy, it won't kill anyone if it were all closed for a day.
I do realize though to someone who everything is about making money That my message is a foreign concept.
...you're obvious hysteria is just what the gov't seems to want. They also seem to want to divide citizens against one another. From your reaction, the gov't is getting the results they want...as the homelessness file gets worse.
Not hysterical.i just don't have my head in the sand thst life is all about making a buck at any cost.
I also can read the news and see what happened in Italy and the US when the virus US left unchecked.
I'm also confident I'm in line eith the majority of citizens. I see little to no support for your constant posts on wanton profit,skiing capitalism,
...at one time, a majority of citizens believed the world was flat, and that the Sun revolved around the Earth. Imo, there is a ton of evidence that you are on the flat Earth side of this virus scare fiasco.
10000 deaths in Canada says otherwise. Seniors homes ravaged with deaths in Canada says otherwise. You believe in science. There is your science.
Unless of course you deny people died and families and friends didn't lose loved ones. Then I'd say it is you on the flat earth.
What's your monetary value for a life saved, mr free market capitalist?
It's the public healthcare monopoly who truly puts a $ figure on ppls lives, and withholds treatments for those the bureaucrat feels don't deserve it.
The collectivists will be happy to see your public display of hysteria and attacking ppl with a different opinion than the gov't talking point narrative.
So you don't have answers, just more rhetoric.
Do you deny that the public healthcare monopoly withholds treatments for people for $ reasons?
...on a massive scale, and has been for decades.
Unlike you, I see grey. I see the pros and cons on both sides, and find a solution generally in the middle. Science ya shown we just can't do nothing as you desire.
Deflect much. As I said of answering the wuwtion of what you would do to save a life, you go back to your usual routine,
I think thst our system isn't perfect
I also think an open market system where I'd you can't pay you die is worse.
Peters must be an Irving, a billionaire who thinks everything should be buyable and if you can't buy you are weak and should just die.
Still awaiting the answer to how many COVID deaths before it meets your market value of concern.
How much $ are big pharma raking in in the search for the vaccine? How much authority have the authoritarians gained in during this scare?
So again instead of any answer, more rhetoric to your agenda, it's not a hard question I know you can do it big boy
Personally as I don't value money and especially how much others may have.
I really don't care if someone makes a trillion dollars as long as it saves a life. You can't put a price on a life, it's a one of a kind unique thing.
hey hey short peter...shaddup already...ur =qally stoopid
No comments:
Post a Comment