The Uncertain Fate of Officer’s Square
Tensions were high at Officer’s Square following 11 trees being cut down in preparation for the Square’s revitalization.
Two groups, Save Officer’s Square and the Calithumpians, came together for a rally hoping that the city would hear their pleas.
“I hope that they realize we have to continue the fight; we want to tell Fredericton city council to stop. Just stop what you’re doing, this is crazy,” said Biggs.
The city of Fredericton has said they will plant 29 trees upon completion of the square but both groups agree that is not enough.
“It’s going to take 40 years to regrow some of those trees. It’s just a bad move and we don’t want that to continue throughout the whole military compound.”
But it’s not just trees that are worrying S.O.S and the Calithumpians, Biggs said that they are concerned about the destruction of a historical site.
The proposed changes include removing sections of the stone wall that surrounds the square and adding an artificial skating rink to square.
“It’s not something that’s heritage it’s not. But the trees, the archaeological, the historic wall, the foundation is history. That is what heritage is, you remove them, you remove all the heritage,” said Biggs.
For environmental activist, Margo Sheppard, the proposed ice skating is the main concern.
She is worried the artificial rink will contain ethylene glycol to keep the ice at a consistent temperature.
“That’s not allowed in this area, so my point in speaking to this is that if it freezes and thaws, and gets into our water table this is our drinking water we are dealing with, we should not be fooling around with it,” said Sheppard.
Sheppard is concerned that the city is withholding information regarding the rink as well as other aspects of the revitalization process.
City Councillor Greg Ericson says that no designs have been finalized.
“What’s ahead of us is the design possibility of a skating oval and we know that we’ll have to refrigerate it in order to get the right number of weeks per year to make it worthwhile,” said Ericson.
Construction on the square is set to begin before Oct.