Fredericton to seek more than $100K in costs associated with cancelled jail plan

Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers says the city is going after the province for more than $100,000 it spent preparing for a new jail.

Those costs came from site preparation and staff time used up to accommodate the government's proposal to buy 25 acres from the city, then rezone the land so the province could build a new $42-million corrections centre.

"Most of it is just development costs and prepping of the land,"  Rogers said Thursday.

"Clearly, a lot of planning time also went into making this reality," she said, citing the required rezoning, which had to go through the planning advisory committee as well.

"So there was a lot of that type of staff time."

On Monday, four months after the city gave the province the approval to build a jail, the Department of Justice and Public Safety issued a brief news release saying it would no longer build it in Fredericton.

That process had started last fall, with councillors agreeing to sell the province a plot of city-owned land to build it in the Vanier Industrial Park.

The land then had to be rezoned, which involved consideration by the city's planning advisory committee, which recommended against granting the rezoning.

In January, the decision came to councillors, who heard a myriad of submissions from the public, with some for the jail, and many — primarily in the Lincoln Heights neighbourhood — against it.

Councillors ultimately voted in favour of granting the rezoning, which was required for the land sale to go through.

In its news release, the Department of Justice and Public Safety said it cancelled its plan over concerns raised by residents, adding that it is now looking at a location outside the city to minimize any perceived impact on residents.

Initially announced in fall 2021, the proposal to build a jail in Fredericton was something Rogers welcomed, citing positive economic spin-offs expected from the new jobs that would be created to staff it.

On Thursday, Rogers avoided sharing her personal reaction to the province's latest decision.

"We will have to find ways now to find those economic spin-offs in other ways, which we will do," she said.

"These things happen, and I think that is part of our role as leaders, is accepting that, and... making sure that whatever tax-payer money went in to trying to make this facility a reality that, that those costs are covered."

Rogers said she hasn't spoken with provincial officials about their willingness to reimburse the city for costs associated with the jail proposal.

"I'm quite certain we have a very productive working relationship," she said. "I'm quite certain that will all fall out as it should."

CBC News asked for an interview with Justice and Public Safety Minister Kris Austin Thursday but did not receive one before deadline.

Austin hasn't yet spoken publicly about the decision to no longer build a jail in Fredericton.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Premier Blaine Higgs said "significant opposition" to the Fredericton location was the reason his government opted out of the plan.

He said the province was still looking at other locations where the jail could potentially be built instead.

Surrounding municipal councils have since made pitches to the province to have the jail built in their communities.

Those include Grand Lake, which Austin's riding is included in, as well as Arcadia, which is part of Gagetown-Petitcodiac MLA Ross Wetmore's riding.