The Saint Andrews Town Council is just weeks away from voting on a new municipal plan that will dramatically alter the town’s future.
Council will hold a required Public Hearing of Objections on Wednesday, February 11, at 6 pm, at the W.C. O’Neill Arena and will receive written submissions until then. Please get involved.
The proposed plan departs radically from past Saint Andrews plans and other New Brunswick municipal plans. Residents have largely been locked out of its development. After initial consultations in 2024, they heard nothing until a completed plan draft was released in August 2025, with a 30-day comment period. The Council has not replied to the comments received, then or since. It has continued legal steps for plan adoption.
Some of the proposed plan’s major changes:
- Eliminating the guiding values and goals found in other municipal plans, it focuses solely on technical aspects of management and development, without setting priorities. Future councils will have to face action without direction.
- Eliminating Residential zoning, to allow commercial and institutional uses and apartment buildings in all residential neighborhoods.
- Supporting major construction and population growth in one of Canada’s iconic National Historic
- Districts, with implications to the town’s highly-valued identity and lifestyle.
Our remarkable town needs a municipal plan that respects its unique character and aspirations. Town residents need to be more actively involved in developing and delivering it.
A new municipal plan isn’t required until 2028. Let’s take the time to do it right. Tell the Council that you want more input into the plan that will guide our town for the next decade. Write to clerk@townofstandrews.ca. Do it now.
Lee Sochasky
Saint Andrews, NB
