City Eyes $6M In ‘Quality Of Life’ Investments

Several parks and playgrounds in Saint John could see some much-needed improvements in the coming months.

City staff are proposing $6 million in what they describe as “quality of life” investments for the 2022 capital budget.

It comes as the city is set to receive a one-time boost in federal Gas Tax Funding to the tune of around $4.6 million.

The money is part of $2.2 billion announced by Ottawa in March to address short-term infrastructure priorities in more than 3,600 municipalities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

City manager John Collin told the city’s finance committee on Thursday that they easily could have put this additional money toward the traditional underground infrastructure upgrades or road repairs.

“The reality is we have done tremendous work on addressing our infrastructure deficit, we are on the right track and we will continue down that exact same track with the rest of our capital program,” Collin said.

“But the community has done its bit and has not received significant investment in what we are calling ‘quality of life’ projects in the last few years because of the disciplined approach we took to reduce the deficit.”

Staff have proposed a list of more than a dozen projects that the money could be set aside for, including:

• $1.8 million for Rockwood Park for Phase 3 of the park’s master plan
• $700,000 to extend Harbour Passage to Tin Can Beach
• $600,000 for Dominion Park to help implement the community’s recently-developed master plan
• $500,000 for upgrades at Loyalist Plaza as part of the Fundy Quay development
• $400,000 for Market Place West to rehabilitate existing assets in the park
• $400,000 for the Forest Hills Playground to upgrade and replace much of the existing playground currently past its useful life
• $400,000 for Main Street North to create a protected bike lane
• $350,000 for various greening, branding and beautification investments throughout the city
• $250,000 to convert South Market Street to a pedestrian priority street
• $200,000 to support enhancements for existing assets such as fields and courts
• $100,000 to invest in arts and culture
• $50,000 for Little River Reservoir to support various beautification enhancements at the park
• $250,000 for the design and engineering needed for the various projects

City staff also developed a criteria list for quality of life investments, such as ensuring they comply with the city’s financial policies and that they are identified in one of its existing plans, such as PlanSJ, PlaySJ, or a neighbourhood plan.

“This is year 10 for me on council and this is the first time I’ve ever seen something like this in front of me,” said Coun. Gary Sullivan, who chairs the finance committee.

“These are all either part of existing plans or plans that are in development. We’re putting money to operationalize plans that we have that experts have seen, engineers have worked with, the public has had input on.”

Coun. Paula Radwan said she is on board with quality of life investments but said staff should also look at using some of the funds for transit or disaster mitigation.

Finance commissioner Kevin Fudge said the proposed projects are “just a snippet” of the overall capital budget which will come before committee members and council in the fall.