Heritage activists feel unheard as city moves ahead with Officers' Square project

The Fredericton Heritage Trust insists communication between the city and the Save Officers' Square committee has not improved since the city announced its plan to go ahead with work on its revitalization project.

"The city's approach is to listen and then go do whatever they want," said Richard Bird, president of the trust. "We don't have any back-and-forth communication with the city and that hasgot very many people annoyed."

A small amount of work on the square is set to begin mid-September after the Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival. It will include refurbishing the wall that runs along Queen Street and establishing new entrance stairs and an accessible entrance.

One of the biggest issues the heritage group has with the project is the stone wall and iron fence surrounding the square. The iron sections of the fence were torn out last year, and the initial work this fall would remove sections of the stonework .

"The wall has come to symbolize the heritage of this city," Bird said.

The question that remains, he said, is whether heritage or revitalization will prevail.

The group even went as far as hiring its own consultant to study the wall and recommend preservation solutions.

Winter layout of Officers' Square once revitalization is completed

5 years ago

Duration 0:57

This is what Officers' Square in downtown Fredericton is expected to look like during winter when the revitalization project is complete.

Bird said that report was presented to the city but ignored because the city claims it wasn't done by a professional engineer licensed in New Brunswick. Birdmaintains that it was.

"That tells us that they really didn't want to look at the report," he said. "They were looking for a reason not to have to look at it."

The city announced two weeks ago that the revitalization project will undergo an archeological impact assessment, a process that could take a year and a half. The potential loss of heritage and archeological resources underground, especially Indigenous artifacts, has been a bone of contention facing the project since the beginning.

The short-term work that will begin in September is on areas of the square that have been previously disturbed, Ken Forrest, director of planning and development for the city, said Monday.

This means the archeological assessment won't be a big part of this year's construction.

Archeological monitoring will still go on, however, said Coun. Bruce Grandy, chair of the city's development committee.

"So if there's something deemed a heritage value it's ensured that it's saved," Grandy said.

Bird takes issue with the city using previously disturbed land as the reason to start some construction now before a full archeological assessment is complete.

"There isn't much land that hasn't been previously disturbed," Bird said.

"If it goes on that test, then there should be no archeological study anywhere in the square."

Grandy said no matter what solution or plan the city comes up with, it is impossible to satisfy everyone.

He said city staff have heard positive reactions from many people who are excited to see the final result.

Still, Grandy said the city has done its due diligence and will be following strict archeological guidelines developed in conjunction with the province

"We told them what we were going to build the wall like and bring it back to a very similar type of look with the decorative iron works on it and everything."