Moncton hosts public 'ideas workshop' for downtown centre

People will have a chance to share their ideas for the proposedMoncton Downtown Centre Wednesday night at a public meeting at cityhall that begins at 6:30 p.m.

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City spokesperson IsabelleLeBlanc says public input was included as part ofthe plan when the $91.5 millioncontract was awarded toBird Capital.

"There are certain things in and around the whole property that can have some public input, so we've decided to put together an ideas workshop for the public," LeBlanc said in an interview on Information Morning Moncton.

The public session will focus on plaza design and public art,programming inside and outside of the facility,architecture,transportation and parking

LeBlanc says the plaza will bealarge space in front of the building which can be used for "just about anything," including entertainment.

"This is going to be a crowning jewel atthe cityofMoncton,and so we want to make sure that we can certainly cater to what residents and visitors will wantwe want to make sure we hit the mark,"she said.

LeBlanc says residents have already shared some thoughts on the architecture of the building, including comments such as, "either it's too colourful, not colourful enough.Will it stand the test of time, is it modern enough?"

Wednesday night's meetingwill include a presentation,followed by break-out sessions where citizens can share their ideas.

"People will throwout ideas, we will put all of those ideas together and we will make them public in a few days ora few weeks on our website and through social media," LeBlanc said.

The ideas will be presented tocity council in the new year.

Information session for contractors

A separate session is being held Wednesday nightat 5:30 for contractors and sub-contractors who are interested in providing goods or services to the project and to learn aboutthe tendering process

LeBlanc says so far more than 80 have registered for the session.

"Bird came up with the idea of perhaps holding an information session, so that instead of answering 15, 20 times they could have everybody in one room, and everybody gets the exact same information and so we supported that," said LeBlanc.

Construction of the Downtown Centre is expected to begin in the spring of 2016 with the grand opening slated for the fall of 2018.