Public input is needed as consultants consider the future of the Vision Lands.

The 1400-acre piece of land north of Wheeler Boulevard boundaries McLaughlin Road, the Trans-Canada Highway and Mapleton Road.

Jim Scott of Trace Planning and Design says they’re designing a community, “We really want residents to be excited about the Master Plan creation process and find really interesting ways to get them involved in the planning process. As we go through the master planning process, we will reach out to them for environmental planning, and different design initiatives to make sure that we are working their master plans into the site development plan for the vision lands. There’s a context of highway commercial and high-density residential that is growing in this area and certainly provides an opportunity to expand that into the heart of the developing lands and extend obviously to the east. Landowners have dreams for what they’d like to see placed on the site. They have outcomes that they like to achieve, and we want to make sure that at a minimum, we make their dreams better, and we are able to give them the type of outcomes that they would like to have on the lands.”

There are multiple landowners for the land, and they will all be involved and work together in the master planning process.

“We have begun talking to them to ensure that we’re able to deal with servicing connectivity and bringing them on with new development formats that really create a fascinating neighbourhood and parks network within the heart of the city,” Scott adds.

They hope to have the base work done before the end of October but consultation will be done by the end of January, “Then we have over the next year to go through various review processes with Moncton City Council, staff, the landowners as well as residents in the city leading into fall of 2024,” Scott says.

The public will first be asked to fill out an online survey, and other in-person consultations will be held going forward.

He says this has been envisioned as one of the most contemporary and exciting neighbourhoods in Canada.

The plan will incorporate housing, recreation, trails, business and transportation.

“I just want to say how important this process is. When we went through it for the downtown revitalization plan, it was very much about creating the vision of what could be and it became it took on a life of its own and we are now seeing the dividends of having created that vision. Without that vision, it’s really tough to do it. So this is an exciting, exciting project,” says Mayor Dawn Arnold. “It’s great, just encouraging citizens to be part of this process. First of all, it’s a lot of fun. Secondly, it’s just it’s a real way to be a part of the future of our community.”

Arnold also expressed her concerns about the wetlands in the Hall’s Creek area, that they would be protected in this project.

Scott reassured her that they are required in their master plan to incorporate both climate change and stormwater management mode