Mount Allison University may start paving the Lansdowne Field in downtown Sackville as early as next week.
Tantramar council heard Monday that a developer has applied to close down Lansdowne Street for the length of the field from Monday March 31 until June 30.
The paving of the Lansdowne Field is part of Mount Allison’s major library renovation project. The new parking lot will allow the university to use its current Lansdowne lot as a staging area for the construction of a new temporary library across the street, on the now vacant site of the old Allison Gardens hockey rink.
The closure will run from Ford Lane to the Curling Club, and will only apply to vehicle traffic and parking, and not pedestrians, said public works director Jon Eppell on Monday.
“There will be many large trucks moving back and forth across the road, perpendicular to traffic,” said Eppell. There will be a lot of mud tracked back and forth, and just from a safety perspective, it would be better if cars were not trying to interact with that construction traffic… They’re going to set it up that there’s sufficient sight distance for pedestrians to be able to walk through safely.”
Eppell said Mount Allison would be submitting a traffic control plan to the municipality, and erecting signs to warn drivers about the closure.
York and Ford closure requested starting in May
The closure could overlap with another downtown street closure to make way for the construction of a seven-story apartment building at York Street and Ford Lane being built by developer John Lafford and AIL group president Mike Wilson.
Lafford and Wilson are asking to close off the sidewalk and on street parking along York Street in front of what is now Blooms and two neighbouring properties that are now vacant. They have also asked to close part of Ford Lane and some of the parking surrounding the building site.
The developers have asked for the closure to start in May and last for six months, to cover “excavation, concrete foundation placement and placement of a significant amount of the concrete structure,” for the development. “Once the developer gets into it, they’ll reassess as to whether that’s the right time frame for them,” Eppell told council, “or whether they may ask for more.”
Eppell told council that access between parking lots in the area “would be maintained, although narrowed,” and the municipality would “have to adjust one or two parking stalls to make that happen.”
Eppel said that he did have concerns about the potential for the York and Ford Closure to extend into winter, and what that would mean for ice and snow clearing operations. “In that scenario, we would need to have further conversations with the developer,” said Eppell.
