City's Urban Growth Strategy is road map for population boom

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Moncton city council voted Monday to adopt the next Urban Growth Strategy, which will act as a roadmap for development as the city adds more housing and services for a steadily growing population.

“The city has been experiencing significant population growth and record levels of development,” Bill Budd, the city’s director of planning, said. “All the easy land has been developed and we’re looking at infilling other areas. We needed to look at how big are we going to grow, how the population will grow over the next 25 years and now we’re planning for an additional 35,000 people.”

Budd said the city will need about 4,500 more housing units over the next year and more in the future as the population continues to grow.

The report presented to council Monday says the Greater Moncton Area (Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe) has a population of approximately 171,600, accounting for approximately 21 per cent of New Brunswick’s population. The City of Moncton is the largest municipality in New Brunswick by population, with a population of 81,500 in 2021.

The report says Moncton’s population is expected to grow from 81,500 in 2021 to 116,200 in 2046, an increase of 34,700 people over the period.

The Urban Growth Strategy was presented to council by Erik Karvinen, manager of the consulting firm of Watson and Associates Economists. It offers three scenarios for projected growth of population, employment and housing needs.

The scenario preferred by the city is more compact, with most of the growth and infrastructure renewal in the city’s core area. The city has already received federal government funding for infrastructure renewal in the area between Main Street and Assomption Boulevard, which is expected to change dramatically over the next decade. The work begun last year with the raising of Westmorland Street near the Moncton Law Courts building and will continue with new water and sewer lines, power and communications lines, that will provide a fresh canvas for developers. Budd said several new buildings are coming.

Last week, council approved rezoning for an 18-storey building on Botsford Street next to the St. Bernard’s Roman Catholic Church.

Budd said the preferred compact growth scenario is where the city will put more emphasis on development in the downtown core and along major transportation routes like Mountain Road near post-secondary institutions.

He said they hope to capture 26 per cent of the growth in the downtown area, where big changes are coming.

The Urban Growth Strategy will be posted on the city’s website with public information sessions planned for the future.

“This will be the point of discussion about the kind of community we want to live in,” Mayor Dawn Arnold said.