Fredericton to dish out $50K in rebates for landlords as part of new recycling program
Rebates to help landlords create space for recycling pickup
The City of Fredericton is planning to pay landlords for expenses they might incur by accommodating curbside recycling at their apartment buildings.
Starting Tuesday, landlords of buildings with five or more units will be able to apply for up to $1,000 in rebates for any expenses incurred from new painting, lighting or construction activity needed to create the space where tenants will be leaving their recycling material once a new curbside recycling program begins next May.
"It's an incentive aimed at addressing that final barrier," said Jillian Hudgins, environmental strategist with the City of Fredericton.
"As I mentioned, space is sometimes lacking, especially in smaller, older buildings … [where] the building wasn't designed to have a recycling area."
Jillian
Hudgins, the city’s environmental strategist, says landlords have until
the end of October to apply for the rebate, but funding could run out
by then, depending on demand. (Shane Fowler/CBC)
Fredericton city council gave final approval Monday to bylaw amendments that will require owners of buildings with five or more units to provide a space for tenants to leave their recycling as of May 1, 2025.
The bylaw changes are in keeping with New Brunswick's switch to an extended producer responsibility program, which requires producers of products with paper and plastic packaging to pay for the costs to recycle the packaging.
That new program is now being administered by Circular Materials Atlantic, which already took over curbside recycling for detached homes and smaller apartment buildings from the City of Fredericton.
However, the city historically has not provided curbside recycling for larger apartment buildings, leaving tenants no choice but to haul their recycling to a blue bin or a redemption centre, or just chuck it in the trash.
Right
now, apartment dwellers who want to recycle have to use communal blue
bins, such as this one next to the Capital Winter Club. (Shane Fowler/CBC)
As of next May, Circular Materials Atlantic will begin collecting curbside recycling from those larger apartment buildings, taking responsibility for the cost of the bins, and the collection service.
"So a landlord would have to provide space, provide access to recycling, and register with Circular Materials Atlantic for collection as well," Hudgins said.
Earlier resistance from landlords
Hudgins said some landlords have in the past been resistant to proposals requiring curbside recycling at larger apartment buildings, citing concerns about costs.
She said those concerns should be all but allayed, considering all landlords need to do is designate a space at their property where Circular Materials Atlantic can install its bins, and collect the recycling from.
"There really shouldn't be any cost increase to the rent at the property," Hudgins said. "The big cost to recycling, the cost of the bin, the cost of collection — that's covered through the [producer responsibility] program."
"Now we are also helping with the remaining barrier of the space. Yes, there might be some small time [required] for a maintenance person to bring a bin to the curb or a bit of cleanup, so we did meet with the development community in March. Overall, it was a very positive feedback."
Hudgins said starting Tuesday, landlords will be able to access an online application portal, where they'll enter information about their building and the type of work they'd need to do to provide a space for the recycling bin.
Once the city confirms their eligibility, they can complete the work, and then send photos, invoices and receipts, in order to get rebates for what they spent, up to $1,000, she said.
Hudgins said the city has set aside $50,000 for the rebate program, which comes from savings resulting from Circular Materials Atlantic taking over curbside recycling for detached homes and smaller apartment buildings in May of this year.
"For the rebate, the deadline to apply is October 31st, but it's first come, first served, so if the funding is exhausted … then the program will be closed."
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Fredericton fire chief makes pitch for new station in fast-growing corner of city
Response time in Hanwell Road-Prospect Street area is currently more than 4 minutes
Fredericton's fire chief is making the pitch for a new fire station in the southwestern corner of the city, citing rapid housing development in recent years and long-standing challenges with getting to the scene of fires in that area as quickly as in other parts of the city.
For decades, areas around the intersection of Prospect Street and Hanwell Road have been outside the four-minute window that is internationally recognized as the standard for how long it should take the first fire truck to respond to the scene of a fire, said Chief Dwayne Killingbeck.
Add to that, 39 per cent growth in the area in the past five years and a new fire station is critical for ensuring adequate response times for that part of the city, he said.
"What's important to consider about the southwest compared to other parts of the city, the southwest has downtown-like conditions where you're seeing these large buildings that are close together, and has no fire station within the four- or five-minute drive time to that location," said Killingbeck, presenting to the city's public safety committee on Tuesday.
"The rest of the city, especially with the higher density and the downtown, have three or four stations that are able to get to the location in the same amount of time. So that's the key point to this."
Standards
set by the National Fire Protection Association recommend fire
departments be able to respond to the scene of a fire within a
four-minute drive. Fredericton Fire Chief Dwayne Killingbeck presented a
map showing that the southwestern corner of the city is outside of that
four-minute drive time from all of the four existing fire stations. (City of Fredericton)
Killingbeck's presentation focused on an analysis his department carried out that looked at response times to incidents if a new fire station were built.
The National Fire Protection Association is an international non-profit that sets standards for professional fire departments to follow. It sets a benchmark of four minutes between a department getting dispatched and the first fire truck arriving on scene.
Killingbeck said about 56 per cent of the time, Fredericton firefighters are able to respond to incidents across the city within four minutes. If a fifth station were built near Prospect Street and Hanwell Road, the rate at which firefighters responded within four minutes would rise to 73 per cent.
He said the city could opt to not change anything, it could move the York Street Fire Station to Waggoners Lane, or it could build a new fire station near the intersection of Prospect Street and Hanwell Road.
Killingbeck said given recent population growth in the city, the first two options would keep the overall level of service below where it should be for the entire city. He recommended councillors on the public safety committee support the third option.
It would cost about $11 million to build and equip the new fire station, and require about 20 new firefighters, at an annual operating cost of about $3.1 million.
Committee supports proposal
The need for a new fire station in the southwestern corner of Fredericton was something Coun. Ruth Breen became aware of while campaigning to represent residents in Ward 9 back in 2021.
With a rapid increase in new housing developments in recent years, she said the need for a new station has only become more apparent to her.
Coun.
Ruth Breen says a new fire station is needed to ensure residents in her
ward receive the same level of service as other parts of the city. (Chad Ingraham/CBC)
"It's a need, it's a really important need," she said. "It provides an equity of service across the city, so [I'm] very happy to see this moving forward."
Ward 3 Coun. Bruce Grandy said the city has pursued big capital projects in recent years, such as a new performing arts centre and renovations to Officers' Square, while at the same time putting off big improvements to its fire department.
"I think it's appropriately time that we start to address this area," Grandy said.
"Coun. Breen talks about growth in her ward and statistics, and I think it's just glaring that we have to move forward with something like this."
Public safety committee members voted unanimously to forward the proposal for a fifth fire station to council as a whole for its consideration.
Killingbeck said if work on the station is approved to begin next year, the goal would be to have staff trained, and the station built and equipped to open at the beginning of 2028.
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