President of NBex accepts plan to develop race track for other uses
Rob Kitchen says he'll work with City of Fredericton on plan that's been called into question in recent months
The New Brunswick Provincial Exhibition's board president says he's accepting of — and ready to move forward on — the plan to get rid of the horse-racing track to make way for new development in Fredericton.
In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, Rob Kitchen reaffirmed his board's willingness to work with the City of Fredericton on an earlier agreed-to plan to allow the provincial exhibition to remain at its Smythe Street location, while eliminating the race track to potentially allow for the construction of new housing.
"We're committed to that plan. Now is it going to happen tomorrow? No," said Kitchen, adding that development is expected to first happen on the northeast corner of the property.
Kitchen said before any development of the grounds happens, the exhibition and the city must first create a committee to work out the details of what gets built and where.
The plan, agreed to between the exhibition and the city in March 2022, doesn't lay out a single vision for how the property will get developed, but rather offers three potential development scenarios.
None of them include the race track.
"We are committed to the process of the joint committee and looking at the A, B, C [options] of that area," Kitchen said. "And what it's going to look like in the future will be the up to the joint development committee."
While the city owns the property, the exhibition leases it and oversees operations at the 31-acre site, about half of which consists of the decommissioned race track.
For years, the city has sought to develop the exhibition grounds for alternative uses, and the agreement struck last year was considered a landmark deal between the two parties.
But late last year, Horse Racing New Brunswick shared video online from one of its meetings in which officials discussed "seizing" the track in Fredericton by registering for membership with the exhibition in order to influence decisions. That led to a flood of new members to the non-profit organization.
And then last month, Mike Vokey, who helped work out the plan with the city, said he was fired from his job as the exhibition's executive director over a desire by the board to take the organization in a "different direction."
No timeline for development
Kitchen said any timeline on development won't be known until the joint development committee is formed.
However, he said he understands that the race track will be one of the later portions of the property to be redeveloped.
"Is the race track getting bulldozed tomorrow or this week? No," said Kitchen.
"That's, you know, it's in the future, down the road."
CBC News asked for an interview with Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers on Wednesday and was provided with an emailed statement instead.
"The City is pleased to hear the N.B. Ex President affirm its commitment to the N.B. Ex plan," Rogers said.
"We look forward to beginning the work to implement the plan we jointly agreed to."
Becoming a more 'professional organization'
Kitchen said Vokey did a "wonderful" job while with the exhibition, but declined to comment on the details of his departure.
Kitchen said the only different direction he wants to push the exhibition in is one that sees it become a "more professional organization," with better communication between the board and its membership.
Kitchen admitted that the board hasn't communicated with its members as well as it should have in the past year.
He said fixing that is part of the goal of hiring Jeff McCarthy, who replaced Vokey as executive director.
"I'm sure that ... our membership's communication will increase greatly under his direction."
Kitchen said he's also aware of concerns about the organization's annual general meeting not being held this past spring.
He said the annual meeting was postponed due to the organization undergoing a "comprehensive audit," the results of which wouldn't be ready before late spring.
He said the board decided to push the meting to November, with the rationale that more members would be able to attend then compared to if it were held in the summer.
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