Letter from N.B. Ex leadership stokes concerns about impasse on site redevelopment talks

A letter from leaders with the New Brunswick Exhibition is stoking concerns there's been an impasse in discussions with the City of Fredericton aimed at redeveloping the 31-acre site to build new housing, a park, and potentially a new school.

Discussions between the two parties "continue to revolve around the inability of the proposed development plan to adequately meet N.B. Ex needs when it comes to promoting agriculture," said the letter, co-signed by executive director Jeff McCarthy and board president Rob Kitchen.

"The current proposed development plan relegates agriculture to the back burner."

The letter, sent to members on Sep. 3, suggests the current leadership at the exhibition now takes issue with the development plan, which it struck with the city more than two years ago.

"[There] seems to be an impasse between the city and the N.B. Ex on those development plans, which is sad, really," said Jeff Thompson, a former N.B. Ex member and downtown resident.

The New Brunswick Exhibition and the city agreed in spring of 2022 to a plan that sought to allow the exhibition to remain on the city-owned property, which it currently leases on Smythe Street, with enough space to continue to put on its annual agricultural fair and exhibition.

However, an adjacent horse-racing track no longer used for official race events would be redeveloped to accommodate up to 1,200 new housing units, a park and potentially a new school.

In the letter, McCarthy and Kitchen acknowledge the exhibition stands to benefit financially from the proposed development plan, but question whether it would be worth it if it has "no land left" to promote agriculture programs.

"An agri-food display and no ability to host children and animals, 4H and our livestock partners is not an agriculture program. A single agri-food display is not growth."

The letter does not elaborate on which specific aspects of the plan would leave it unable to promote agriculture programs.

Redevelopment options laid out in the city's secondary municipal plan show the potential for the exhibition to keep largely the same footprint it currently has, except with the horse-racing track replaced with housing and a school.

Kitchen declined to do an interview with CBC News when reached by phone Thursday, and McCarthy did not reply to interview requests made by email and voicemail.

City seeking clarity on letter

The letter comes about a year after leaders from the exhibition and the City of Fredericton struck a committee that was tasked with implementing the plan, which Kitchen previously told CBC News he'd accepted.

CBC News asked for an interview with Mayor Kate Rogers about progress made by the committee and her thoughts on the recent letter.

Rogers was not made available, but spokesperson Shasta Stairs said in an emailed statement the city is aware of a recent newsletter from the exhibition and will be contacting its leadership for clarity.

The statement did not say what, if any progress the joint committee has made in the time since it was formed at the end of last summer.

N.B. Ex using stall tactics, says former board member

A former board member, who resigned last fall, said he thinks the current board is employing stall tactics to keep the horse-racing track for as long as possible.

"I strongly believe that when they speak agriculture, they believe that harness racing is a component of agriculture and that the underlying tone here is that they kind of want to try to resuscitate or save harness racing," said Jeff Melanson.

Melanson served as a board member starting in 2015 and was the president when the exhibition struck the redevelopment deal with the city.

However, he said he noticed a shift in attitude toward the plan following two successive annual general meetings, where new board members in favour of keeping the race track were voted in.

"It seems like they've wanted to maybe change the agreement or blow up the agreement because they felt it didn't suit their needs, and I'm thinking primarily ... to keep a race track."

Melanson said the apparent stalemate leaves a lot at stake for residents of the city, considering a prime piece of real estate continues to go largely unused amid a severe housing shortage.

"There's obviously a huge housing crunch in our city. We need land to develop affordable housing for the citizens of Fredericton."

Thompson became a registered member of the exhibition last year to get involved in the redevelopment process.

He said he was already concerned about the lack of communication from either party regarding progress on the plan's implementation a year after they formed the joint committee.

Now, he said the latest letter from the leadership seems to confirm his concern that little to no headway has been made on redeveloping the site.

"It's a prime development opportunity in the heart of downtown ... so it's a bit discouraging to see that, you know, there seems to be a bit of an impasse."