By Jim Dumville and Theresa Blackburn
600-unit subdivision to help with town’s housing crunch
Director of Planning and Development Andrew Garnett announced a new housing development at the Woodstock Town Council meeting on Feb. 25.
The 600-unit mixed housing subdivision will see mini-homes, row houses, multi-unit residential buildings, and possibly single-family unit homes in one development. The project is getting underway with funding received from the Regional Development Corporation pre-construction fund.
“We’ve been working closely with the Regional Development Corporation,” said Garnett, announcing to council that the town had secured $366,500 or 75 percent of the initial development cost of $490,000.
“The funding will allow us to explore design and also study the infrastructure impact of the subdivision,” he told council.
The Cook’s Construction development has been in the works for a year and will see land north of Eastwood Drive and Neilson Street developed, with potential access from several directions.
“More details like conceptual drawings and layouts will come as the assessment proceeds,” he said.
Garnett said the project will be divided into two parts: subdivision design and infrastructure assessment. The town has to gauge how the project will impact water, sewer, and traffic before it can apply for further funding.
The initial design and infrastructure work is expected to be completed in 2025.
“All types of housing is needed. The ability to secure the first part of the funding is a positive milestone for Woodstock,” said Garnett.
“This is very exciting,” said Mayor Trina Jones. “You all have read the Regional Service Commission’s housing-needs assessment, which tells us what we need. It showed significant growth in the next five to 10 years; that we’ll need close to 900 (housing) units to be able to sustain that growth. To have this opportunity…is huge. We are on pace with (this and) other housing projects to hit that mark. That’s quite something to be able to say.”
Jones added that significant road infrastructure will be needed, but those costs will be outweighed by giving residents access to affordable housing.
Jones said the project would also allow the town to analyze its water and sewer capacity without taking funds from the utility fund.
“We’ve been trying to limit the increases to water and sewer rates, and we’ve landed funding to analyse it. It’s a really big win for all of us,” Jones added.
Alternate town hall site
The town is reviewing a lease offer from NB Power, which CAO Allan Walker felt was “acceptable.” The town’s finance committee is recommending that council sign the lease.
If councillors approve, the town’s administration could move into the top floor of the NB Power building on Connell Street later this spring. The five-year agreement for the nearly 3,500-square-foot space will cost $24 per square foot for the year and includes power, janitorial services, and snow removal.
Mayor Trina Jones noted the cost was “well below” market value, adding that some renovations would have to be carried out, and the town would be required to supply furniture and cubicles.
CAO Walker said a move-in date was being finalized. The police expansion transition fund from the province will cover the leasing cost for the rest of the year.
The move means the Woodstock Police Force (WPF) would take over the town’s administration space in the existing town hall on Main Street, but town council remains ‘homeless.’
Since giving up council chambers to the WPF two years ago, council meetings have been held at the AYR Motor Centre, requiring staff to set up and take down council tables, chairs, and audio/visual equipment almost weekly.
“This has been a long time trying to figure out how to move forward,” said Mayor Jones. “We are still lacking council chambers, so what we are going to recommend is that we find a semi-permanent home for a while so we can establish a more permanent audio-visual system.”
Project manager
The town could be hiring a new manager to help council navigate multiple projects.
Mayor Trina Jones noted that work toward creating a Collaborative Care Clinic, the just-announced 600-unit housing development, and the police force expansion could all benefit from a dedicated employee who could help push the projects along.
“With the police transition (for example), we could use them, particularly around the current building and modifications of it. We really don’t have anyone who can ‘own’ these projects,” she said.
Coun. Julie Williams noted that in the case of the collaborative care clinic, for example, many committee members are volunteers or doctors who don’t have time to work on ‘action’ items.
“To sustain this in moving forward, it’s time for communities to pitch in,” said Jones.
The mayor told councillors that town staff would evaluate costs and discuss job parameters before bringing a proposal back to the council for review.
Third reading of water and sewer bylaw delayed
The third reading of a bylaw that would increase water and sewer rates in the town’s Ward 4, which encompasses the former Woodstock town boundaries, was delayed by two weeks.
During the Feb. 25 meeting, CAO Allan Walker noted that after closer review, the document needed a few changes, including fixing some grammatical errors and two specific water rates.
“When we got to water only, we had it at $300 and hadn’t changed it. We have to move it to $325, so when you add the ‘water-only rate’ and ‘sewer-only’ rate, it is the same cost as the lowest tier of water (rate),” said Walker. He said this change will impact 11 customers. A similar change had to be made to the commercial ‘water-unmetered’ rate, affecting 64 customers.
“The total financial impact is $1,800, but becuase of these changes, we need to repost to be fair and leave third reading to the first meeting in March,” said Walker.
Northampton Rec Centre generator
The Town of Woodstock and the Regional Service Commission will help the Northampton Rec Centre purchase a generator.
The unit, estimated to cost $34,000, will allow the centre to become a warming centre during winter power outages.
“We reached out with them (Northampton Rec Centre board members) to the Regional Development Corporation and were told they would likely qualify for a 40 per cent funding for the generator,” said CAO Allan Walker.
Based on a finance committee recommendation, the council voted to provide financial assistance for $12,000, or 60 percent of the project.
Mayor Jones noted that the town would enter an MOU with the centre to determine how the facility would be used in emergencies and how the town staff would assist the centre’s board when emergencies happen. Once the document is drafted, it will come back to the council for review.
Jones also noted that the town’s EMO plan needs to be revised and updated and that this new MOU would become part of an updated emergency plan.
RDC to help pay for Connell Park Raceway upgrades
The town completed upgrades to Connell Park Raceway, including improved grandstand lighting, the purchase of an ice surfacer, and a ticket booth renovation before the Maritime Snowmobile Racing Championship on Valentine’s Day weekend.
During the Feb. 25 council meeting, CAO Allan Walker noted that the town is submitting an application to the Regional Development Corporation and expects to get as much as $25,000 back to offset the costs.
RCMP quarterly update
Sgt. James Gallant, Ops NCO for the Western Valley RCMP, updated the Woodstock council during the Feb. 25 meeting.
“As you can see from the media releases I’ve been doing lately, we’ve put a lot of high-risk, prolific offenders in jail or on strict conditions for the last two weeks,” Sgt. Gallant told the council.
“We’ve really been bogging down the court system, getting a lot of big names, so I feel like our spring is going to be a lot easier than in other springs because we got some big names in custody,” said Sgt. Gallant.
He noted there were no discernable increases or decreases in crime rates for the Woodstock area since his last report but said that the Richmond Corner area had a few “prolific offenders put away,” telling the council he was hoping that in the next quarter, “these (statistics) would be down a bit.”
Sgt. Gallant said the RCMP did have some concerns about an increase in “border jumpers” but said they really hadn’t had any calls related to that since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, even though the issue “was talked about a lot,” leading up to the president’s swearing-in.
Woodstock councillor Will Belyea expressed his appreciation and was impressed with the community cooperation between the Western Valley RCMP and Richmond Corner Community Watch.
“It’s really is working well,” said Sgt. Gallant.
“The community is really pleased with how things are working out there,” added Belyea.
Zoning request
A property owner in Jacksonville wants to rezone land so they can build a storage facility.
The request to rezone 319 Route 560 in Jacksonville came before the council at their Feb. 25 meeting. The request is to have the property changed from residential to general commercial to allow for the building of a self-storage facility.
The plans would see the 1.56-hectare lot rezoned to accommodate five storage buildings with 264 storage units of various sizes. The plans include asphalt roads and fencing with access gates. The town notified neighbours around the area of the proposal, and the council received no comments or concerns.
If approved, Director of Planning and Development Andrew Garnett suggested that conditions should be placed on the project to ensure adequate screening and hours of operation so neighbours in the area wouldn’t be bothered by noise.
New cleaning contract for AYR Motor Centre
The town has contracted John’s Floor Service of Woodstock to manage the cleaning of the AYR Motor Centre. The three-month contract will see Jeremy and Christina Turner jointly taking over the position of interim maintenance supervisor. The Turners will train with the current maintenance supervisor, who will transition to public works.
Town to cover Operation Olave costs
The Town of Woodstock has agreed to cover the costs of using town facilities and the AYR Motor Centre for Operation Olave.
The Girl Guides event, which brings together young women from New Brunswick and PEI for a weekend of camping and activities, will take place on May 24 in Woodstock.
The rental of town facilities would have cost the Girl Guides $1,953.
