Southeast New Neighbourhood Secondary Plan

Fredericton’s Growth Strategy, adopted in 2017, planned for four New Neighborhoods to accommodate 75% of our growth. With over 3,000 new residents last year, development pressure is high.

Council has directed staff to advance a Secondary Municipal Plan for land south of Doak Road and Alison Boulevard, unlocking space for residential development to support 7,000 people — and we want your input.

Growth Strategy & Development Pressure

Fredericton’s Growth Strategy was adopted in 2017 and outlines how and where residential and employment growth should occur in Fredericton over the next 25 years. The Growth Strategy identified four New Neighbourhood areas, intended to accommodate 75% of the City’s future growth. The City is experiencing significant population growth, with over 3,000 new residents last year alone, three times what was originally anticipated in the Growth Strategy. Three of the New Neighbourhood areas are seeing significant development to support the City’s population growth, but the Uptown New Neighbourhood (UNB Endowment Lands) in southeast Fredericton is not producing housing starts, resulting in significant pressure on the remaining southside. To open up land for residential development and to have a functioning fourth New Neighbourhood area, Council has directed staff to advance a Secondary Municipal Plan further east of the existing Uptown New Neighbourhood, being the area south of the Doak Road and Alison Boulevard intersection.

Southeast New Neighbourhood Area

The Plan Area encompasses just under 200 hectares of land surrounding Doak Road and Alison Boulevard, south of the Vanier Highway. There are several single-family homes and businesses along Doak Road and Alison Boulevard, but the Plan Area is otherwise undeveloped and forested. The lands are not currently serviced by municipal sanitary, water, or stormwater services. The boundaries for the Plan Area may be amended following consultation with existing landowners and government stakeholders, but were generally developed based on the following considerations:

• Logical expansion of municipal services (reviewed as part of the Feasibility Study)

• Unlocking City owned land for development and infrastructure growth

• Incorporating the area needed to support an intended population of approximately 7,000 people

• Siting new mixed-use and residential development to provide sufficient buffering from hazardous industrial uses and environmentally sensitive areas

Feasibility Study

As a first step, a Feasibility Study was completed to look at the Southeast New Neighbourhood Area from a technical perspective to determine how the area could develop and the costs required to make it possible. The City engaged Exp Services Inc., in partnership with zzap Consulting Inc., to prepare a Feasibility Study. The Feasibility Study identifies infrastructure requirements for servicing the area (i.e. extending water, sanitary, storm, roads, sidewalk and trails) as well as phasing and cost estimates to create the type of mixed-use community envisioned in the Growth Strategy and Municipal Plan. City staff presented the Feasibility Study in November 2024 to Council, and Council directed staff to proceed with a Secondary Municipal Plan for the Southeast New Neighbourhood.

Secondary Plan Process

The Secondary Municipal Plan will look to build on the Feasibility Study and provide a framework to guide the future development of the Southeast area. The Secondary Plan process looks to gather input from various stakeholders, residents, and property owners and hear various perspectives on what is needed for this new neighbourhood. An open house is scheduled for March 13 at Grant Harvey (2-4pm and 5:30-7:30pm in the Community Room, 2nd Floor) with other opportunities for one-on-one engagement. The consultants will provide a “What We Heard Report” following the open house and will look to integrate comments/perspectives as the Draft Secondary Plan is prepared in the coming months.