New BrunswickA Fredericton man is asking the courts to halt a planned transitional housing project, arguing the province pushed ahead without properly consulting residents. Local resident Timothy Hawkins alleges not enough consultation was doneSam Farley · CBC News · Posted: Nov 27, 2025 2:12 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.A legal action is attempting to stop the province from going ahead with a plan for transitional housing for homeless people at a cleared site on Forest Hill Road in Fredericton. (Silas Brown/CBC)A Fredericton man is asking the courts to halt a planned transitional housing project, arguing the province pushed ahead without properly consulting residents.Timothy Hawkins, a Fredericton resident of the Skyline Acres neighbourhood, launched the legal action against Housing Minister David Hickey, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson, Housing New Brunswick, and the City of Fredericton on Nov. 21. A clerk at the courthouse in Burton where it was filed told CBC News the first appearance for the case is scheduled for Dec. 5. The province recently announced plans for a 24-unit development of tiny homes for Forest Hill Road in a similar style to the 12 Neighbours tiny home community on Fredericton’s north side.In an interview on Thursday, Hickey said he was not fully aware of the legal action and could not comment. But he said he would be the first to recognize “we needed to do a better job in making sure the community felt they were a part of this project.”Hickey has been the public face of the provincial government for the project, speaking to residents for nearly three hours at a contentious public meeting earlier this month.He said the province did make changes to the project following the meeting, such as security protocols.Housing Minister David Hickey said he recognizes the community has some frustration over the project. (Chad Ingraham / CBC)”We need to do what it takes to make sure it’s successful,” Hickey said, adding that he recognizes the community has some frustration about the project. “We need to house people in Fredericton, we need to make sure that we respond to the homelessness crisis with the urgency it deserves.”The property where the project is slated to go is owned by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. A spokesperson for the department did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. While Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers, chief administrative officer Steven Hart and several councillors were present or spoke at the public meeting, the project is fully provincial and is not being organized or run by the city. CBC News requested comment from the city and is awaiting a response. CBC News also sent requests to speak with Hawkins, the resident who launched the legal action, through his lawyer, Steven Barnett, but did not immediately get a response. Hickey spoke to residents at a packed public meeting for nearly three hours earlier this month after the project was announced. (Sam Farley/CBC)At the heart of Hawkins’s case is an allegation that the parties did not do proper consultation with residents in a manner of what Hawkins describes as procedural fairness in his affidavit to the court. He also said that the full details of the project “should have been made public” before a decision was made. “There has been limited disclosure about the work on the Land, the establishment of the Community, or how the Community will be managed,” Hawkins wrote in his application. He said the fact that the property is “located within 250 to 300 metres of Forest Hill Elementary School” makes it an inappropriate location, adding that students could be exposed to “drug-use and criminal or other disruptive activities.”Hawkins also alleged that the placement of the site just within the Skyline Acres neighbourhood is inappropriate, because it is “a suburb with many young children and families.” In an interview with CBC News shortly after the public meeting, Hickey did admit that the province could have done a better job at consulting. Hawkins cited the CBC News story with Hickey’s interview, and several other CBC News stories about the project, in his exhibits. He also included a petition signed by residents asking to halt the project.At the meeting, Hickey said the location of the site was not up for discussion but that the public meeting was being held to understand concerns citizens may have.During the meeting, Rogers explained to the public that because DTI already owned the land and it was zoned correctly, there was technically no legal need for consultation to be done.Many residents said they had not heard about the project before the meeting, which took place after the site location had already been cleared and readied for development by construction crews.CBC News had asked for information about what was being done at the site from Housing N.B. and the city a week before the meeting was held but did not receive an answer before the meeting happened. ABOUT THE AUTHORSam Farley is a Fredericton-based reporter at CBC New Brunswick. Originally from Boston, he is a journalism graduate of the University of King’s College in Halifax. He can be reached at sam.farley@cbc.caWith files from Savannah Awde
Fredericton resident launches legal action against province, city over Forest Hill tiny home development
