Saint John pulp mill and city staff in conflict over 550-spot parking lot on parkland
Proposal will come before council for public hearing on Feb. 10
An Irving Pulp & Paper proposal to build a 550-stall parking lot on parkland not far from the west Saint John mill is causing conflict between the company and the city.
Irving wants the parking lot for workers who will be needed for the pulp mill's NextGen project — a $1.1 billion operation that will replace the mill's recovery boiler and increase pulp output.
J.D. Irving Ltd. bought the land overlooking Reversing Falls more than 25 years ago, and the Centracare psychiatric hospital that stood on the property was demolished.
The company then created Wolastoq Park, honouring the Wolastoqey name for the St. John River, with trails and statues that tell the history of the area.
Now the pulp mill, which has a regular workforce of about 350, wants land rezoned from "park and natural area" to "stable commercial" to make way for the parking lot. The lot would take up a third of the park space.
The proposal was sent to the city's planning advisory committee in January after resident pushback.
Mark Reade, a senior planner with the city, Tim O'Reilly, the public works director, and Irving Pulp & Paper vice-president Mark Mosher addressed the committee.
City staff are not on board with the Irving proposal saying the new parking lot would have a large impact on the already complicated Simms Corner intersection and on the quality of life for residents in the area.
The change is also likely to reduce or eliminate the community-park-oriented function of Wolastoq Park now enjoyed by the city and nearby communities, staff said.
Reade told the committee the company "could construct a parking structure on the mill site, so [the proposal] is not necessarily due to lack of land."
Staff recommended denying the Irving proposal, but the planning committee disagreed. The proposal now goes before city councillors on Monday, when there will be a public hearing.
A city spokesperson said there would be no further public comment on the parking proposal until the hearing.
The Irving plan has supporters as well, including the Chamber of Commerce and Saint John Construction Association.
Mosher said that that when JDI bought the property in 1998, it was on the condition that something be done with it to drive the city and provincial economy. Until such a solution was found, the site was to be converted into a park.
The NextGen Project, he said, will replace much of the pulp mill's infrastructure and is necessary for the mill's long-term viability.
He said the city and province will benefit through tax revenue and job growth.
Mosher said the company did explore alternatives, including building a parking garage on site. While the immediate need is for parking for 200 people needed for the mill upgrades, the mill's site will also be losing 350 parking spots because of the NextGen construction.
He said constructing more parking on the mill site would require shutting down the existing lot for at least 18 months — during which time there would be no parking. That left few options, other than using shuttle buses, which Mosher rejected.
"To ask a construction workforce that currently works 10-hour days, four days a week to then stand in line waiting for a bus to be taken to their car in the middle of the winter … will create a significant challenge," Mosher said in an interview.
Parking is a necessary amenity to attract workers, he said.
"Construction associations are telling us if you want to bring workers back to New Brunswick, you need to provide amenities, and one of the very basic amenities is parking."
Simms Corner intersection a complication
The nearby Simms Corner intersection, which the city has been exploring ways to fix for at least two decades — plays a significant role in the issue.
O'Reilly said increases to road, port and rail networks have already had a challenging impact, and the parking lot proposal would add to them.
"Some of the additional truck traffic in terms of some of the development is going to grow as well over the number of years," he said.
O'Reilly said the Irving group hasn't done a good job identifying these impacts.
Mosher said the heaviest traffic period will be during the construction phase of the NextGen project, after which there will be less road traffic as the company will transition to rail.
He also said there are factors, such as population growth, are also affecting congestion at Simms Corner.
Committee member Anne McShane questioned how the increased traffic might affect safety.
While McShane ultimately sided with city staff in a committee vote, she said she is hoping a proposal will come about that benefits both Irving and residents.
"As we keep growing how do we make sure that the neighborhood irritants don't also scale up at the same level?" she said.
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