There will be big changes in central Sackville this summer as Mount Allison’s Lansdowne Field is converted to a parking lot, while the university starts construction of a new building to house an interim library and future multipurpose athletic centre on Lansdowne Street.
The school’s VP of Finance and Administration Robert Inglis shared the news with Tantramar council on Tuesday afternoon in a special meeting.
The $85 million project includes a major renovation of the Ralph Pickard Bell Library, but first the university must construct a building to house library services while that renovation takes place. The plan is to start construction on that building this summer, which means closing the existing Lansdowne parking lot next door. And that will mean one additional component to the project, Inglis told councillors on Tuesday.
“We are planning on improving our parking facilities by using Lansdowne Field,” said Inglis. The school’s communications department confirmed that the new parking lot is “intended as a permanent solution to address the growing need for parking on campus.” The new parking lot will be built starting this summer and is expected to open in the fall.
The Lansdowne Field is more than twice the size of the current parking lot on Lansdowne. CHMA has asked the university for details on the size of the proposed new lot, but have yet to hear back.
Inglis told council that the administration was “in conversations with the athletic department,” about the potential to replace the use of Lansdowne Field with Normandy Field, over beside the Sackville Waterfowl Park, “recognizing that Lansdowne will be out of service for a bit.”
“We do have a little bit of a parking issue on campus,” said Inglis. “And so we didn’t want to make this project make the parking issue worse. In fact, this will probably make it better.”
Most of Tuesday’s meeting focussed on the proposal for the Ralph Pickerd Bell library renovation. Inglis showed councillors renderings of what the renovated library could look like, though final designs have not yet been created.
Mayor Andrew Black commented after the presentation, comparing the proposed design favourably to the award-winning Halifax Central Library, with its bright open space and central staircase. Black paid special attention to a proposed second entrance for the library facing onto York Street.
“The community entrance, I think is a really huge piece,” said Black, noting that the current entrance facing the campus quad might give the impression that the library is not open to community use, when in fact it is. “Having that community entrance facing right downtown into Sackville, I think is going to be a wonderful addition,” said Black, “and have it more welcoming and uniting to the community.”
Inglis said the project leaders have heard “loud and clear the comment about community.” He said the school was adding the York Street entrance because it was “the right thing to do.”
“We always had been part of the community,” said Inglis, “for well over 180 years.”
Inglis said the future multipurpose athletic facility could also be a boon to the community. Once library services move back into the Ralph Pickard Bell in about 2029, the building will be converted to a large, expansive indoor space for recreation. “Then it will serve our needs to support all things athletics and recreation on campus,” said Inglis, “and the greater Sackville and Tantramar and Southeast New Brunswick community.”
