Tell Us Your Big Idea!

Idea:

Give grants to businesses looking to open up shop in the downtown core (fill up empty spaces to draw more traffic/tourism). Perhaps turn King Street into a Plaza and have the buses use Brunswick Street.

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for sharing your idea! Creating a vibrant and economically strong downtown is an important community goal for the City. There are a number of grants available through Downtown Fredericton Inc for businesses in the downtown. Additionally, the Fredericton City Centre Plan lays the foundation for the transformation and enrichment of Fredericton’s downtown over the coming decades. One of the plan's objectives is indeed to enhance the pedestrian environment along King Street by relocating the transit terminal to an adjacent or nearby location and removing bus parking from the street. The plan is a high-level framework that will guide future public initiatives, studies, and private development and it is important to recognize that many of the objectives of the plan are long-term initiatives.

Idea:

Has the city given any thought about converting one of the existing baseball diamonds or building a dog park in the Morrell park / Queens square area? I feel that would get more use than the diamonds have in recent years. I know a lot of people in the area would welcome one.

Staff Feedback:

Thanks for your idea! In 2019, the City completed a Ball Field Needs Assessment and it was concluded that these fields are required to ensure demand continues to be met. However, City staff is currently discussing the possibility of a downtown dog park. Stay tuned!

Idea:

The Provincial Government; with the city of Fredericton, should seed the construction of a 20 story residential high-rise downtown. Build a Timber Framed Tower. Architecturally significant with the highest standards. Use the construction project to learn and set standards. This should be a showcase of wood construction as an alternative to steal and concrete. Use this project to create density in the capital; support immigration, increase housing stock, grow the forest industry, innovate the construction Industry , support public services and build economic growth downtown. The Century Initiative targets a Canadian Population of 100 million by 2100. Act boldly now to take advantage of this growth and grow the capital to a vibrant modern city.

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for your Big Idea! We appreciate your vision for greater density in our downtown to support housing needs, public services and economic growth. There are a number of residential projects awaiting approval or under construction that are helping meet the challenging demands of our current market, which we hope will lead to a more vibrant and modern capital city. With regard to wood construction, for many years there has been a 6-storey limit to wood buildings and only recently has the National Building Code of Canada begun to allow up to 12 storeys. The City of Fredericton must comply with the standards set out at the Provincial and Federal level, and would welcome an architecturally significant wood building that meets the current Code. Construction industry innovation is driven primarily by the private sector and the resources they have at their disposal, but City Staff will work with the development community to support new innovative buildings, especially if it grows our forest industry sector and contributes to a more vibrant downtown.

Idea:

We really enjoyed this last year. It was a great location and a fun trail to skate on. Thank you to those who contributed to that project last year.

Staff Feedback:

We LOVE the Carleton Park Skating Trail, too! We will be flooding a new skating track in the same spot as soon as conditions permit!

Idea:

I think it would be a great idea for the city to get an update from NB Power about what their plan is with the downtown power station off Queen/Carlton next to the library. It is my understanding this is to be decommissioned, but nothing has been communicated with the community in terms of timeline. This is an ideal area that could be used for much better purposes, especially with the library next door. With all the other development going on in the area it is a shame that nothing has been earmarked for this spot. It would be a oversight for the city to finish Officer Square renovations and not have this connection point with Carlton St.

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for your idea! This was identified in the 2016 Garrison District Master Plan (see the link to it below). On page 38 of the Plan there is a description of what has been identified as Scholars Walk.

https://www.fredericton.ca/sites/default/files/pdf/160303_garrison_district_report_reduced.pdf

Over the past few years, we have been working with NB Power as they have been planning the decommissioning of the sub-station next to the library. A lot of work has been done and we believe the substation removal will happen in 2023.

Once the sub-station is removed the City then advance the concept of Scholars Walk.

Thanks again for your interest!

Idea:

Build an arena like Harbour Station or Avenir Center. It has always baffled me why Fredericton, a capital city, does not have a large arena. Moncton recently hosted the world juniors, which injected $20 million into their economy. Fredericton is falling behind because there is no vision.

Staff Feedback:
Thanks for your input, it's been shared with staff.

Idea:

Last week on my way to work I noticed that a car had crashed onto this pedestrian crossing on Smythe St, at the round-a-bout downtown. I walk across this exact place twice a day on my commute to work. I was very impressed that a new sign was up by the end of the day. However, I am hoping that this accident (and others like it at this and other intersections) will encourage the city to install bollards at high traffic pedestrian crossings. Please protect the city's pedestrians, and allow us to enjoy walking around the city safely.

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for your idea! Anything located within a certain distance of the edge cannot pose a hazard to road users. Installing a bollard strong enough to stop a vehicle would seriously injure the driver of that vehicle. That is why the engineering best practice is to not install a barrier device that would hurt someone (in this case, a driver) in order to protect someone else (in this case, a pedestrian). The good news, however, is that these type of vehicle-pedestrian collisions are very rare. More common is the situation whereby a vehicle loses control due to bad weather conditions. All of this is, of course, not to say that we don't understand your concerns. We definitely do. And the traffic engineers are continually looking for ways to make Fredericton's streets and roads safer for pedestrians. Thanks again for the question - it is always good to take a hard look at how we do things. We appreciate you caring enough about the topic to send in your thoughts.

Idea: I am wondering if this is something the city is considering with the website rebranding. There are a lot of important conversations that happen during council meetings and not everyone has the time to read the attached agendas or watch the recordings, so it would be great if these items were communicated on the Fredericton city website in some form. The media does a good job of highlighting topics, but it's inconsistent and selective. Other city websites have a good example of highlights (Montreal/Calgary) This website is a great tool for community engagement and portal for us to provide input. I do really appreciate the feedback and responsiveness.

Staff Feedback : Thank you for sending us your big idea! As you know, the website is currently being redone with the focus of having a better customer experience for our residents. One of the key elements to this redesign is to make the work and role of council easier to navigate for residents and that will include a dedicated menu and clearer calendar of council activities. However, we love your idea of "highlighting" topics and will bring it back to the team to see if this is a feasible function for the new website. Thank you for reaching out!

Idea:

Rail, being more efficient than cars and trucks for cargo and passenger transport, should be a long term goal of the CoF*. At the very, least acknowledging rail would be a beginning step to a major component of going green. Currently Fredericton is the only mainland provincial capital without any rail connections and one of two without passenger rail. That concerns me about how futureproof our city is currently as I believe a shift to public transit (which rail would heavily facilitate) and greener cargo transport is a crucial part in reducing our impact on the local and global environment, and provoking sustainable, urban growth. I would love to see rail be considered in future municipal plans if possible. *I'm not knowledgeable enough in rail to know if there's much the CoF (on its own, at least) could do in this regard, but as rail isn't even mentioned in any plans, it'd be nice to see it acknowledged or something!

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for your Big Idea! Rail is certainly a major form of transportation that can be more efficient for cargo and passengers alike. With rail transportation being a federal/provincial responsibility, depending on its scope, implementing rail would go far beyond the municipality and would require significant investment from multiple levels of government. Section 3.9 of the City’s Municipal Plan does speak to mobility and transportation and includes policies that support a full range of transportation modes to help achieve the City’s goals of promoting energy efficiency. The Municipal Plan encourages transportation investments that reduce emissions and encourages the province to consider the City’s growth management goals in the planning of provincial transportation facilities. Overall, the Municipal Plan supports the development of a multi-modal transportation system that better addresses the urban context of the city.

Idea:

Traffic congestion increases when vehicles stop at signals. The key idea is to let the vehicles move without stopping them. Circular junctions and U-turns are practices which allow avoidance of timely systematic stoppages for vehicles.

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for your feedback! The city has been taking steps towards improving efficiencies and removing signalized intersections by installing roundabouts just like you mention, because they permit vehicles to make right, straight, left and U-turn movements without waiting at a light. We will continue to look at ways to make improvements to the city’s street network.