Officers' Square project in Fredericton behind schedule

The Officers' Square revitalization project is about a year behind schedule, according to the City of Fredericton.

The project has had some stumbling blocks since plans were initially released, including public outcry about the number of trees that would be cut down and more recently a protest at the site of the archeological assessment digs.

"We're probably at least a year behind where our original planning had put us," said Sean Lee, assistant director of engineering and operations.

Lee said he expects the delays will also mean the project will cost more than expected.

"Some things have come in a little bit more expensive than were initially thought. So costs will be higher than I think our original estimates had them."

The project was budgeted to cost about $9 million.

Lee said there aren't final figures yet for what it will cost.

"Our intention is to come back in January with kind of a summary on where we are relative to consultation, what our mitigation requirements are, and where our costs are going to be sitting for the next steps of the project."

Mitigation requirements will come out of the findings of the archeological assessment. The province will tell the city what, if any, changes in the plans will be neededto preserve important artifacts.

"What we found [n the assessment] is that there were some unknown ramparts, which is kind of a wall structure on the northern side of Officers' Square, that didn't show up on any drawings or any history of Officers' Square that we had."

Lee said artifacts from Acadian settlement and Indigenous artifacts, dating back to the Woodland Period about 1,800 years ago, were foundcloser to Queen Street.

Lee said the additional time spent on the project will make for a better square.

"We want to make sure that our consultation is where we needed to be relative to our Indigenous partners. And we also, although this project has taken longer than we had originally anticipated, we think we'll end up with a better product as a result."