Charles,
ALUMNI LAUNCH www.smartgrowthUNB.ca PLEDGE-DRIVE
UNB: 'SMART GROWTH, NOT SPRAWL'
FREDERICTON, NB -- "I promise to donate $$ to UNB if they follow their own stated guidelines in the development of the UNB Woodlot."
On their own website - www.unb.ca/lms/woodlot/wprinciples.html - UNB's "Guiding Principles" for the Woodlot Development, include "sustainable mixed-use development", "demonstrate UNB's commitment to excellence in development and management", and "increase UNB's profile as an environmental steward and community leader"
smartgrowthUNB.ca is a website launched to accept pledges of money from UNB alumni, students, and other supporters. (Please don't send us any money!) You can choose to remain anonymous or to have your name added to our list of pledgers and your graduation year from UNB. Use the contact e-mail below to send your pledge amount in:
smartgrowthUNB@gmail.com
This pledge drive will be under the supervision of the non-profit organization Friends of the UNB Woodlot Inc. which will file for
incorporation. Directors of the organization will include a broad range of stakeholders such as UNB alumni, UNB professors, UNB
students, the Fredericton chapter of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, and supporters in the community at large.
BACKGROUND
UNB was the first public university in North America, enacted by public statute. Under the UNB Higher Education Act, s. 6 (1), UNB may invest money into any property as long as they do so exercising good judgment, and care that a person of prudence, discretion and intelligence would exercise as a TRUSTEE of the property of others.
In 1800, King George III granted the UNB Woodlot to the College of New Brunswick. This area is legally a Wildlife Refuge and is 10 times the size of Odell Park in Fredericton and 4 times the size of Stanley Park in Vancouver. It is one of the oldest managed woodlots in North America, used by faculty researchers, students, and the community alike.
How can it be in the best interest of UNB students and alumni to have university land given away to the development of big box retail
stores? And how can you have comprehensive land use planning if "there is no plan in place" for the mixed development area?
Our message to the UNB administration and Board of Governors is simple. We request that a moratorium be placed on the construction of all roads (e.g. a 45-metre right of way, 4-lane Knowledge Park Drive extension) until such time as the mixed-use development plan and related public consultation are complete.
The development of the UNB Woodlot is a public issue. The trustees of UNB have to put the best interests of students and the UNB
community above their own in deciding how to develop this land.
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For further information, please contact:
Mark D'Arcy, UNB Alumni (BSc '86) and Friends of the UNB Woodlot 506-454-5119
2 comments:
WHy are they fighting for mixed use? Are they already giving up? What about keeping it as is!
We look to universities for leadership and progressive policies. A small portion of the Woodlot should be dedicated for smart, high-density, mixed-use development while leaving the majority of the woodlot untouched. If sprawl and low-density residential development is allowed to proceed, UNB is going to turn the entire Woodlot into a theme park. UNB has highly desirable real estate in this location and should not settle for anything other than smart growth.
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