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Fredericton city council voted to proceed with the expropriation of the Exhibition Grounds after being given the go-ahead by the province’s expropriation officer on May 8.
A special council meeting Sunday afternoon passed five resolutions related to the land, leaving the city with full control over the 12-hectare property.
The city owns the land and leases it to Fredericton Exhibition Limited, or the New Brunswick Provincial Exhibition. The current lease is a 21-year term that expires in 2031.
The exhibition has been challenging the city’s expropriation of their leasehold interest of the Exhibition Grounds since September.
Six of the city’s 11 councillors were at the meeting. Councillors Jocelyn Pike, Greg Ericson, Cassandra LeBlanc and Kevin Darrah voted in favour of proceeding with expropriation.
Councillors Mark Peters, Margo Sheppard, Eric Megarity, Steven Hicks and Bruce Grandy weren’t at the meeting.
Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers said she was respecting council’s wishes by calling Sunday’s special council meeting. She is not re-offering as mayor in Monday’s municipal election. (Ed Hunter/CBC)
Next council could make changes
Councillor Greg Ericson said he asked staff if a vote on expropriation on Sunday would be binding for the next council.
He said the answer is no.
“The new council will have the full right and authority and power to give the N.B. Exhibition their lands or to continue on with this process or anything in the middle of that,” said Ericson.
When Mayor Kate Rogers was asked by reporters whether a new council would be bound by Sunday’s vote, she said the new council “will have the authority to work wth the N.B. Ex to determine what their future is on the land.”
Special Sunday meeting questioned
As Sunday’s meeting got underway, Rogers explained to council, staff and the gallery the reasons why the meeting was called on such short notice, right before the election.
She said current council instructed her to call a special meeting if the expropriation officer’s decision was released before the election.
“I followed those instructions. To do otherwise would have been one to go against the will of my council,” said Rogers.
“To have not given this council an opportunity to consider information that was presented in a timely way would have also been wrong and clearly … it would have been not transparent.”
Rae Tretiak is the executive director of the N.B. Ex and despite Sunday’s vote, he’s hopeful he can continue negotiations with a new council once it’s elected. (Tara King-Stewart/CBC)
Documents from the council meeting said the city received François Carrier’s decision at 4:15 p.m. on Friday.
Carrier is an Edmundston lawyer and the province’s expropriation officer.
Rae Tretiak, the executive director of the New Brunswick Provincial Exhibition, said he saw Sunday’s decisions coming but will continue to negotiate with the city.
“We want to reach a negotiation sooner than later. We do not want to delay anything. We want to get the job done and we want to move on so that everybody can put this one to bed,” said Tretiak, who’s been running the exhibition for around a year.
Council also passed a resolution to offer the exhibition $4.1 million to compensate them for losing the land. As part of the expropriation process, that amount could be challenged by N.B. Ex.
