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Fredericton city council has agreed to build a new storm sewer pipe on private property, along with a trail connection between Union Street and the shore of the St. John River.
At Monday’s meeting, council voted in favour of entering a memorandum of understanding with Global Intermediate Finance Trust Corporation, which owns a property at 638 Union St. on the city’s north side.
According to a report by city staff, the MOU sees the company grant the city a 12-metre wide easement to install a new stormwater pipe to replace one that has been on the property for about 60 years.
The company will contribute $225,000 and the city will pay for the remainder of the project, with help expected from a federal funding contribution.
“Records are unclear about who installed the pipe and when,” the staff report says.
“City records do not indicate the date it was installed and by whom, however, Staff believe it was done by previous owners and not by the City, likely in the 1960s.
“Although the infrastructure was not installed by the City, it serves to attenuate regional storm water run-off, and therefore there is a municipal purpose/benefit.”
The city will also be granted an additional three-metre easement to build a trail connection on the property between Union Street and the shore of the St. John River.
Speaking after Monday’s meeting, Mike Baldwin, Fredericton’s director of corporate services, told reporters the city had been trying to work out an agreement to install a new pipe there for the past decade.
“The pipe needed to be dealt with and needed to be dealt with in a proper way for risk of failure, and to clean up any issues where it was crossing two properties,” Baldwin said.
He said it’s not uncommon for cities to renew infrastructure that is privately owned, if it serves a purpose that is beneficial to the municipality.
In this case, the pipe carries water from Grieves Creek out into the St. John River.
“When we look at what’s happening with climate change and we’re seeing, you know, the storm events that were happening, that needs to be dealt with,” Baldwin said.
“So risk of failure to that would obviously have other impacts in the local area … so it was identified as a need.”
Baldwin said the work to build the new sewer pipe is expected to begin later this year.
He said he didn’t have information on the expected total cost of the project.