Clean Water

Saint John will be getting a new water treatment system. The City’s website has some information about the Public Private Partnership (PPP) that will be used to develop the system.

As expected, some comments on the CBC article about this are sceptical of the PPP system being used.

Ideally, the City would be able to look at several options for developing a clean drinking water system, but as it stands, the PPP funding model appears to be the way to get Federal and Provincial money to move forward with this.

I have concerns about PPP, but am willing to take this as a good news story.  We do need an upgraded water system.

My concerns are that a PPP system requires tight control over contracts. If we let a private company do whatever it wants, the profit motive could lead to less than perfect results.  However, if we can come up with a solution to make sure the private partner is responsible for cost overruns and a system where water is still priced at fair/accessible prices, this model could work.

I know some folks are concerned about allowing private interests to have control over something as essential and important as water.  Again, ideally we would have other options where we could weigh pros and cons of each.  But, if the PPP model is the only option, it will be good to get clean water. We just have to make sure we’re getting what we pay for and are cautious in dealing with a partner.

Property taxes for transit facilities

The Provincial government seems to moving forward with its property tax reforms. These reforms will give property tax cuts to a lot of commercial property owners.

CBC reports that Saint John Transit would like to see their provincial property taxes cut to zero. The manager of the transit authority claims that NB is the only province that charges taxes on this type of building.

I have previously shaken my head at Saint John Transit’s complaints that their tax bill was too high by citing the fact that they really didn’t need to build such an expensive building. I do however support this latest attempt at lowering their expenses in an effort to improve service delivery.

Transit is a public good and the Province should support it.

Updated property tax system

Here is a link to the Province’s proposed property tax system change information site:

http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/elg/local_government/content/promos/property_tax.html

Interesting property tax rule changes

The CBC gives a pretty detailed explanation of the changes to property taxation that the Minister of Local Government introduced today here.

One interesting feature is that libraries will no longer be taxed.  As a number of “public good” type buildings are not subject to property taxes, this makes sense.

Apparently they will also be simplifying property tax bills. This is a good move.  Two TED talks that are great at explaining the value of simplified documents are Alan Siegel’s Let’s simplify legal jargon! and Dave Meslin’s The antidote to apathy.

There are also rules that should ease the tax burden on owners of investment properties.  There doesn’t appear to be a mechanism that ensures these savings are passed along to tenants, but hopefully this leads to more responsible building ownership/management.

There is also a mechanism in place to limit increases in any given year for owners.  One thing I like about this rule is that a reassessment will occur when a property sells.  Hopefully this will increase the likelihood of newly purchased properties being properly assessed.  However, my concern on the capping increases is that there are many drastically under assessed properties and this rule will slow the correction of these errors. This is bad because it puts an unfair burden on those who are properly assessed.

So, overall I think there are some good things coming with these new rules, and some things to be cautious about.

Dept. of Social Development adds $10.3 million to affordable housing budget

I’m pleased to read that the NB Department of Social Development has increased their budget for the year, including “$10.3 million for the construction and renovation of affordable housing units.”

As readers know, I support affordable housing, particularly mixed income housing. I’ve been interested in the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (RRAP) of late and it sounds like this funding may support the program.  While new builds are exciting, there is a great opportunity to improve the housing stock that already exists within New Brunswick.  If older apartment buildings in Saint John can be rehabilitated, we can be confident that more of our citizens are living in quality affordable housing.

Troubling transit situation

With transit already struggling, it might be easy to see why they mightn’t like what I have to say in this post.

I know that running a bus service must be expensive, with multi-million dollar buildings to support and so forth. It seems a shame to me that bus service has been cut in this city, reducing the liveability of Saint John.

Worse than that though, the Province is cutting transit pass subsidies for methadone patients.  This is a bad move, that should be reversed.  The savings are minimal and could lead to significant social costs.

However, if the Province does go ahead with this regressive move, the Transit Commissions (or city halls) in Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton need to step up and offer bus passes for free.

The incremental cost of an additional passenger on a bus is minuscule.  The cost of people being given free bus fare would only be the cost of a buss pas card (minimal), and the incremental fuel and wear and tear costs associated with a single human on a 20 tonne bus. 

I bet it is a mistake to assume that the transit authorities will lose out on a lot of revenues if they did give out these passes; one has to wonder if everyone who uses the transit subsidy would continue to ride the bus if it were an out of pocket expense.  If no, then this won’t even represent lost income.

Transit may not be profitable in NB scale cities.  I get that.  Still, if no one provides this transit option, the ride may not be taken and the important treatment may be missed.

I don’t claim to know a thing about opioid addictions or methadone treatment, but I can’t believe we as a society, would be willing to let people seeking treatment fall through the cracks because of the cost of a bus ride.

Local governance action plan

The Province has launched a new plan to attempt to improve local government services and efficiency.  The Action Plan for a new Local Governance System in New Brunswick is designed to increase regional cooperation, without forcing amalgamation.

The full document is here:

http://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/lg-gl/pdf/ActionPlanLocalGovernance.pdf

New functionality added to Propertize.ca

Propertize.ca (the tool that lets New Brunswickers search for assessments and property sale prices) has added a new feature.

The Province publishes real estate sales prices for all transactions since 2009.  Now Propertize shows all of these sales. This is a great addition for a real estate nerd, or someone working on an assessment appeal (local sale prices of similar homes is the best evidence of your homes actual value).

Congratulations to Shawn Peterson, Propertize designer and engaged citizen, for making his site even better.

New wetlands policy

The Province has responded to widespread criticism of their new wetland protection policy by scaling back the testing requirements for developers.  The CBC reports that the maps released earlier this year that showed around 18% of the province as requiring further study to determine if these areas were wetland are being shelved in favour of maps that put this at around 6%.

Until this year developers were only required to deal with wetlands issues on 4% of land in NB.

Wetlands: Public meetings

From GNB.ca:

Environment

Environment minister to engage New Brunswickers on the topic of wetlands

11 February 2011

FREDERICTON (CNB) – Environment Minister Margaret-Ann Blaney will participate in public meetings across the province to engage New Brunswickers on the topic of wetlands.
"Wetlands continue to be a topic of discussion in our province and are of particular interest to developers and environmental groups," said Blaney. "This tour will give the government the opportunity to communicate with New Brunswickers and to hear their concerns and comments about wetlands in our province."
The meetings will be held between Feb. 28 and March 10 in Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Miramichi, Tracadie-Sheila, Campbellton, Edmundston, Grand Falls and Woodstock.
"I encourage New Brunswickers interested in the issue of wetlands to participate in these meetings," said Blaney. "I also invite individuals interested to visit the Department of Environment's website for information about what wetlands are, the benefits they provide to our province and the regulations that government has in place to protect them."
The public is also invited to send comments by way of e-mail, env-info@gnb.ca.
The following meetings are scheduled:

Saint John
9 a.m. to 11 a.m.,
Monday, Feb. 28,
Lily Lake Pavilion, Wallace-MacMurry Room,
55 Lake Dr. S.
Moncton (Dieppe)
2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Monday, Feb. 28,
Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, Dieppe campus, auditorium,
505 du Collège St.
Miramichi
9 a.m. to 11 a.m.,
Tuesday, March 1
Rodd Miramichi River Hotel, Cains Room
1809 Water St.
Tracadie-Sheila
10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.,  
Wednesday, March 2,
Town hall,
3620 Principale St.
Campbellton
7 p.m. to 9 p.m.,
Wednesday, March 2,
Campbellton Civic Centre, Banquet Room,
44 Salmon Blvd.
Edmundston
9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.,
Thursday, March 3,
Université de Moncton, Edmundston campus, Amphithéâtre Louis-A.-Lebel,
165 Hébert Blvd.
Grand Falls
1 p.m. to 3 p.m.,
Thursday, March 3,
Town hall,
131 Pleasant St., Suite 200
Fredericton
10 a.m. to noon,
Friday, March 4,
Killarney Lake Lodge, Rotary Room,
1600 St. Mary's St.
Woodstock
2 p.m. to 4 p.m.,
Thursday, March 10,
Royal Canadian Legion,
109 Carleton St.
LINK:
●    Department of Environment: www.gnb.ca/environment

Wetlands and development

A lot of Saint John is within a “wetland predictive area” and a lot more still is within a buffer that may also require caution when developing.  This is illustrated on GeoNB mapping (go to the map hit the ‘tool box’ icon and scroll down to “wetlands” to check this out).

Across the province a lot of land may be “wetland.” 

The TJ reported yesterday that this might be causing challenges to cities working on development plans.

While municipal and provincial officials work out what this could and should mean for future developments, it seems worthwhile for developers and interested parties to get up to speed on the Department of Environment’s rules for developing in or around wetlands: http://www.gnb.ca/0009/Wetlands/index-e.asp

Finn Report

The new NB government has announced that they might move forward with elements of the Finn Report on Local Governance.  The report includes plans to increase regionalization and to amalgamate some communities. 

When the report was released in December 2008 it was shelved, according to the government of the day due to economic restraints. 

One aspect of the report that has local significance is the proposed merger of the communities in the Kennebecasis Valley.

A recent Times and Transcript report on the issue indicates that the current government would want community buy in before implementing the report, without forcing communities to amalgamate in the ways the report recommends.

Peacock: Urban issues should be addressed

CBC’s election coverage added an article about the challenges facing cities in NB and how political/government types might address them.  Read the article at the following link: N.B.'s urban growth poses political problems

Port expansion

The Saint John Port Authority wants funds to expand the cruise ship docking areas in Saint John harbour.  The CBC reports that the provincial Supply and Services minister expects that a funding request to the province in this regard could be successful.

The expanded docking areas would allow for larger cruise ships to dock, making way for newer ships and more passengers. 

According to the CBC article and 94.1 FM news, Abel “You’re a punk” Leblanc doesn’t like the idea.  He has previously opposed the construction of a waterfront HQ for a local company, fearing negative impacts on the effectiveness of the port.

The currently “too-small” docks in Saint John might not be the only threat to the industry’s growth or sustainability.  Earlier this month the Telegraph Journal quoted the premier as writing:

“I am concerned that the imposition of this standard on the schedule proposed may negatively impact the cruise ship industry using Atlantic Canada ports”

The TJ counters this claim with a quote from a Transport Canada representative saying that “extensive consultations were held with the marine industry…”

Fundy Trail marketing

I was just watching a video that Tourism NB is using to promote the Fundy Trail.  Three things stood out to me.  First, the guy talking in the video refers to the Fundy Trail Parkway as “undeveloped” when I would argue that a roadway and huge bridge over a once beautiful river is far from pristine.

Second, the video calls Fundy Trail “soft adventure.”  I agree with this, but find it truly myopic to put funds and effort into creating soft adventure, when eco tourism is something that I believe to be more likely to attract the young people that NB claims to want.

Finally, it seems foolish to say that “The Fundy Trail opens up previously unreachable areas of the Bay of Fundy coastline” when the video talks of the previous uses of the land, uses that presumably involved reaching the land.  In addition, backpackers could reach the coast line for decades, but it seems that old guys in cars couldn’t, so that doesn’t count.

Finance Minister thinks tax bills too high

The provincial Minister of Finance is quoted by the CBC as saying:

I don't think we've had the uptake from the municipalities we thought we would that is disappointing.

Read more at the CBC NB news site.  These comments come after a provincial policy was implemented where municipalities had to actively decide to increase or maintain the tax rate if they wanted to bring in tax money with a growth rate higher than inflation and new property assessments.  It seems more municipalities decided to go for a rate higher than the provincial formula than the province hoped.

Minister Byrne’s comments indicate that the province wanted to leave the assessment calculation the same, but not allow cities to have a windfall from raising property values, without creating new value for tax payers.

Property tax season

I haven’t been to the “public square” much this week so I haven’t heard too much about people’s property tax bills yet.  I wonder if assessments are up a lot this year.  I also wonder how people in SJ are reacting to higher tax bills, which are likely as the tax rate was unchanged for last year.

With talk of reforming the system to limit assessment increases it might be necessary for assessors to increase assessments in the next few years to bring them to “fair value” numbers, before a cap is put in place.

Proposed Crescent Valley development

County 94 News has a brief story about the proposed changes in the Crescent Valley area.  Here is their photo of the proposed site plan by ADI:

I find the proposed linking to Anglin Drive, and what appears to be further single family subdivision (north of baseball field) interesting. 

This is the Bing Maps aerial view of the area last year (perhaps 2008).

Feds & Province funding housing upgrades

A provincial press release lists almost 20 senior and other affordable housing locations that will receive funds for renovations.  These are:

• Brunswick Tower: $356,273.60
• Crown Street: $155,087.04
• Jenny's Springs Housing Co-operative: $128,000
• Market SquareTower: $1,120,433.68
• Province of NB (Department of Social Development - Saint John): $5, 776
• Province of NB (Department of Social Development - Hampton): $257,047.77
• Province of NB (Department of Social Development - Saint John): $209,900
• Rural and Native Housing - Kingston: $5,900
• Rural and Native Housing - Lakeside: $6,350
• Rural and Native Housing - Mayfield: $4,970
• Rural and Native Housing - Rothesay: $11,050
• Rural and Native Housing - Smiths Creek: $4,000
• Rural and Native Housing - St. Martins North: $4,900
• Rural and Native Housing - Tower Hill: $5,252
• Rural and Native Housing - Willow Grove: $4,000
• Rotary Isle Estates: $248,400
• Stephenson Tower: $719,668.65
• Wright Street Housing Co-operative Ltd.: $240, 000

The TJ covered the announcement and alludes to an announcement about the upcoming redevelopment of Crescent Valley (an announcement about this is apparently being made right now). 

The editorial board at the TJ also ran a piece about government’s role in creating affordable housing, saying in part:

“With the exception of residential co-ops, traditional housing projects tend to isolate their residents, trapping families in a cycle of poverty. Municipalities have moved away from building low-income neighbourhoods and towers to creating mixed-income residences in mixed-income neighbourhoods. This is the direction new housing policy should take.”

This editorial is part of the ongoing contemplation of housing that the TJ has been doing in its editorial pages.  Like me, the editorial staff are trying to reconcile the need for immediate action with the need for responsible action and progressive planning.

Poverty blog discusses Rainbow Park’s future

Google Alerts informed me of a blog posting about the future of Rainbow Park.

The blog, called Below The Line NB, has a great mission/vision statement on its ‘about’ page: “I started this blog because I don’t think that poverty is acceptable.” Beyond the great statement, there are also some great posts about policy and practical issues and how they relate to the financially disadvantaged in NB.

The most recent post, on Rainbow Park, reviews the situation that the Rainbow Park revitalization faces, considering the recent announcement of the IOL HQ cancellation (this project would have put around a million dollars of earmarked money toward the project via a deal with the city for land). 

According the research of the blogger, a second year St. Thomas University student,  Saint John Harbour MLA Dr. Ed Doherty is attempting to find regional development funding for the project, and a number of those from around Saint John City Hall are still in favour of upgrading the south end park at the foot of Charlotte and Sydney Streets.

I’ve added a link to this blog in the sidebar, as I expect other interesting articles to come from this writer (Karissa Donkin).