Homeowners along future Cross Town Trail in Fredericton feel ignored by city

Some people who live along a future bike lane in downtown Fredericton say they feel they weren't consulted before a decision was made to build it on their street.

"The whole process has failed us," said Melissa Deap, who has been living on the north side of the 100 block of Argyle Street for the past 17 years.

That's where one of a few new sections is planned to complete the Cross Town Trail — a multi-use recreational trail across the city's south side at the base of College Hill. 

"I feel like I should have been a part of the consultations," said neighbour Jill Walker.

But under the current approach to notifying the public, a person would have to be in the habit of following city council meetings, social media or reading newspaper ads to happen upon many planned changes to neighbourhood streets before they're decided. 

Both women said they're disappointed to have missed a public meeting about the trail plans last fall because neither of them knew it was happening. 

"Apparently there were several votes taken throughout that meeting. And it was considered a positive thing that was going to happen," said Deap.

A few days later, council approved the conceptual trail route, which includes their street.

The open house about the Cross Town Trail plan was advertised in several ways, according to the city.

It was posted on the Engage Fredericton online portal. There were several other digital notices and newspaper ads about it, and it was promoted through the Fredericton Trails Coalition and at a city mobility committee meeting, said city spokesperson Shasta Stairs, in an emailed response.

But many of the residents of about 20 homes along the proposed route did not see any of those notices and no mention of it was made directly to them.

It's a surprise to some that there's no requirement for the city to do so.

"It affects us directly," said Deap. "I would have appreciated a notice in our mailbox."

Infrastructure work is different in that way from things like new buildings or zoning changes. 

For the latter, the Community Planning Act says direct notice must be given to people within a radius of 100 metres.

Mail-outs happen 10 days before going to a planning advisory committee meeting, said Stairs. The public can comment at that stage and has another chance later when it proceeds to a council meeting. 

Capital projects like the trail work, on the other hand, are generally discussed in public during fall budget meetings and again in spring by the mobility committee, she said. But direct notices only go out to people who live nearby after the projects have been designed and tendered.

"It seems that the process has gotten to the point where it's been approved and they're not really considering that anymore," said Deap, adding that she is so troubled by the situation that she's thinking about moving. 

Her main concern about the plan for her street is the safety risk of having bikes and scooters zooming past her driveway and about 10 others between Northumberland and Smythe Streets.

Most of the trail is on an old railway bed. This will be the only section crossing so many residential driveways.

Walker, who runs Bluebell Montessori School, is also concerned the bike lane will cause safety and parking issues for her 27 students and their families.

Deap also wonders what it will mean for garbage, snow removal and the streetscape.

Dr. Caroline Lubbe-D'Arcy is one of the few Argyle Street residents who attended last fall's open house.

Lubbe-D'Arcy said she found out about the meeting on the Engage Fredericton website, but only about a day before it happened. She said she tried to spread the word, but some neighbours had other commitments and she didn't have time to reach everyone.

She said there should have been more notice.

Over the past 23 years, Lubbe-D'Arcy said she's received "all kinds of notices," from the city — about planned developments and things going on at the exhibition grounds, such as a liquor licence application by William's Seafood Restaurant.

She said it's unfortunate no direct notice was given about this project, which affects her and her neighbours more directly.

The trail plan is "just not safe," she said, due to the number of driveways and parked cars. 

Lubbe-D'Arcy is originally from the Netherlands, where biking is a very popular way to get around.

She said she's in favour of completing the Cross Town Trail, but she'd rather the section on her block was routed on the old rail bed, which crosses a townhouse development owned by Colpitts Developments. There's plenty of room for a trail along a utility easement, she said.

The city said it's not pursuing this option because it would involve acquiring "a considerable amount of land" from several private properties, eliminating "several" backyards, driveways and parking spaces, and removing "numerous" trees, fences and utility poles.

Staff are expected to "formalize" the design of the Argyle Street bike lane by February. 

"Community feedback is being considered," said Stairs.