School on N.B. Ex site could go ahead without joint committee approval, mayor says

Fredericton's mayor says the city could strike an agreement with the province to build a new school on land it leases to the New Brunswick Exhibition without the organization's green light.

To date, Kate Rogers said plans for the land have moved through the joint decision-making authority — a committee with members from the city and the N.B. Ex. 

But she believes the group is not moving fast enough on development plans struck by both parties in 2021 to add housing and a school to the large plot of land on Smythe Street. 

"We have been trying to work through that at a committee level, and now we're just saying we need to use all measures possible," Rogers said Thursday. 

"That committee has been meeting for quite some time as well, and we haven't been moving probably as quickly as we would have liked." 

WATCH | Fredericton mayor describes importance of developing exhibition grounds:

This Fredericton property could be used for housing and a school. What’s the holdup?

1 day ago

Duration 1:49

The City of Fredericton wants to see the New Brunswick Exhibition grounds developed for other uses — something N.B. Ex agreed to in 2021. But Mayor Kate Rogers says the deal isn’t moving fast enough.

It's not clear yet whether council will opt to move ahead with an agreement outside of the joint committee. Rogers was not made available to answer follow-up questions.

Council passed a motion earlier this week that called on the provincial government to co-operate with the city to "pursue all available means" to acquire ownership of the land needed for the new school. 

The motion said council "wishes to see a negotiated and mutually beneficial arrangement" with the N.B. Ex, but added that the city will "pursue all available means to expedite" the site plan.

Rogers said the move comes because members of the N.B. Ex did not vote on whether housing and school development should move forward at its annual general meeting on Sunday.

"We're just ready to move and don't know that that organization is feeling the same sense of urgency," she said. 

But Rob Kitchen, N.B. Ex president, said he was surprised by the motion and disagrees with Rogers's assessment that the organization doesn't want to move quickly.

"There's been no delay tactics or anything done by the N.B. Ex," he said. "The membership wanted more information ... They did not say no to development, they just said they need more information before they move forward." 

For example, he said, the members were seeking more information about how much land the school site would use.

Kitchen, who is a member of the joint committee, says the city did not provide enough information about the proposed developments ahead of the planned member vote. 

"It's not fair to ask the membership to vote on something with no information," he said. 

Kitchen also takes issue with making any land-use decisions outside of the joint committee, which he believes is the proper channel. 

The joint decision-making authority is set up for that reason, he said, "and at no time was the JDA given information of the size of the school or the nature of how much land it's going to take."

Rogers said part of the urgency comes as the city was given more than $10 million from Ottawa for housing development. 

The city hopes to use part of that for housing slated for the N.B. Ex site, but Rogers said there is a time limit for those funds to be spent.