Moncton Planning Committee Approves Application for New Costco Store
MONCTON – The City of Moncton’s Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) approved Costco’s application to build a new 17-acre location on the corner of Elmwood Drive and NB-2 TransCanada Highway on Wednesday.
Campanella and Associates architect Fernando De Marco, representing the big-box retailer at the PAC meeting, said the approval means the development can move to the next step.
“Obviously we’re happy because it means we can go forward,” said De Marco in an interview with media after the presentation. “It’s a lot of work being done by a lot of people on this project right now, including the developers. So it’s a giant step forward for the development.”
A proposal to widen one driveway was denied, but they won approval for their other requests. De Marco told the committee a narrower driveway is not an issue.
“We can live with it and make it smaller.”
Campanella and Associates had sought for one of the three driveways at the location to be 15.5 metres wide, larger than the standard 12 metres allowed by the city. City planner Sarah Anderson said the traffic coordinator didn’t support it.
However, the PAC approved all other requests, including those for variances to reduce the required front yard from 18 metres to 9 metres, cut the number of bicycle parking from 43 to 10, and to raise the number of permitted driveways.
The proposed new Costco store would sit on a 17-acre parcel of land that would include a 154,000-square-foot building, 1.8 acres of green space, four fuel islands and 849 parking spaces.
The current store on 25 Trinity Drive will be relocated to the new location on Granite Drive, a new public street that will be created.
“Costco’s super happy right now,” said De Marco. “[The new store will have] better amenities, bigger store, bigger parking, fuel facilities, so we’re happy we’re moving forward.”
The current store is too small and doesn’t provide room for expansion, a problem Costco is facing with some of its older stores in other cities as well, De Marco said.
De Marco couldn’t provide a specific date for when the new store will be built, but Costco plans to move quickly.
“Right now Costco’s intention is to go as quickly as we can, so we’re gonna pick up from tonight and apply for our actual building permit, which is the next step,” De Marco said.
Montreal-based Campanella and Associates filed the project’s site plan to the PAC on behalf of Lumel Holdings Inc. in January. They proposed that the building entrance face the highway.
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