The village of Memramcook is inviting local residents to a public meeting on February 6 to hear about two potential infrastructure projects in the planning stage: a new community centre attached to the Abbey Landry school and a recreation centre beside the Memramcook Valley golf course.
Memramcook mayor Maxime Bourgeois was in Sackville this past week and took some time to tell CHMA about the two proposed projects.
Bourgeois says a new community centre would be built to the right of the Abbey Landry school, likely connected by a pedway. Bourgeois says the centre would include spaces for community organizations, and potentially a new merged library with combined resources from the public and school libraries.
The recreation centre would have a larger gathering space suitable for events, and be located next to the community-owned Memramcook Valley Golf Course.
“It’s a way to have, yes, a new clubhouse, because our clubhouse not really functioning,” says Bourgeois, “but it’s also a way to have a room that can accommodate up to 300 people for weddings, banquets, things like that.”
He says the long term plan includes recreational equipment rentals such as e-bikes, snowshoes, or cross country skis. “We just want to really promote outdoor activities by having a 365-day centre,” says Bourgeois, pointing to Rotary Park in Dieppe as an example. The landscaping around the new centre would also encourage use of neighbouring Parc LeBlanc
Bourgeois says the event on February 6 will be an opportunity to talk about preliminary plans and get feedback on the projects. He’s not certain whether both projects would be able to be built at the same time. The community centre project will involve negotiations with the province and Francophone South school district, who own the land. The recreation centre is planned for municipal property, so could move more quickly. Bourgeois says the village has applied for federal funding for the recreation centre project, and has been meeting with the province and school district regarding the community centre plan.
“The objective is to really just have a plan, because if you don’t have a plan, you can’t apply for projects when there’s funding from the federal government or even provincial government,” he says.
The meeting takes place Thursday, February 6 at the Monument Lefebvre in Memramcook, with doors opening at 6pm and a presentation slated for 7pm.
