Active transportation grant procured by City of Powell River

City of Powell River staff members have been directed to prepare a budget amendment for the mid-level connector active transportation corridor between Powell River Recreation Complex and Brooks Secondary School. The five-year financial plan amendment is to include a $450,000 federal active transportation fund grant.

Director of planning services Jason Gow appeared before councillors at the September 26 special council meeting to outline the need to amend the budget. Gow said costs have escalated for the project.

“It’s the state of our world today,” said Gow. “Every project we have embarked on a number of years ago, we’ve gone back to get a cost estimate and have seen costs escalate.

“The good news is we have a grant that was already approved and we are now able to accept it.”

Gow said the mid-level connector project started in 2022. He said staff went out and sought grants that would be suitable for this particular project. The city applied for a community forest grant of $450,000, which was granted, and applied for two other grants, according to Gow. One was the federal active transportation grant for $450,000 and the third was a $550,000 grant from CleanBC Communities. He said the city opted to go with the $550,000 grant because it was the higher of the two senior government grants. The city ran into federal stacking limits, which meant only one grant was available.

Gow said the project submitted a couple of years ago was valued at $750,000, but today, as costs have escalated, the city is now looking at a project cost of about $1.4 million. He said with this estimate, the federal stacking issue is no longer a consideration.

“We were able to reach out to the active transportation funder and say we’d like to reconnect and ask for that grant,” said Gow. “The federal granter has been very welcoming and has stated that works for them. What we need from council is an amendment to the five-year capital plan that would allow us to accept that additional $450,000 grant towards this project.”

City councillor George Doubt said the project started out valued at $750,000 and now it is almost $1.4 million, so it is pretty much a doubling of costs.

“I’m curious about the amount of contingency that there is in that $1.4 million value in the engineering design study,” said Doubt.

Gow said typically, a 10 per cent contingency is what would be part of the budgeting once the city gets to the place of an engineered design. He said the $750,000 estimate was framed around a conceptual design. He said the designers in the engineering company who were hired to do the design went into the field and saw some of the challenges.

Doubt asked if the project had been put out to tender. Gow said it hasn’t been. Doubt said the city would not know the final cost of bids until they are actually seen, which is his only concern.

In terms of maintenance of the mid-level connector once it is constructed, mayor Ron Woznow said Powell River is well known for the excellent work volunteers have done in maintaining trails in the region. He asked if the city had considered going to one of them, or a number of them, asking if they would like to participate with the city and take on the responsibility of maintenance.

Director of parks, recreation and culture Jamie Bretzlaff said he had just had a lengthy conversation with a representative of the BOMB Squad. Bretzlaff said part of that conversation was them informing him that they are very informal in their structure and that the membership is in decline.

Councillor Rob Southcott said the mid-level connector seems like a big project, but in the context that he sees it, it brings the project back into scale. He said being a lifelong cyclist, he is delighted to see a project like this happening in the community.

“Before I came onto council, in the term prior to that, this city started in earnest planning for cycling and active transportation infrastructure,” said Southcott. “About 12 years ago, $1 million was budgeted in the capital budget toward active transportation over a 10-year period. In that period of time, less than half of that budgeted money was necessary from taxpayers because the projects taken on by the city were, to a considerable extent, paid for by senior government grant money. The initiative was rewarded by the senior governments, who also have the vision to see where we are headed.”

Southcott said the mid-level connector project seems big but it rests on a long history and is a major component in connectivity. He said the project is really going to connect the city.

“I wholeheartedly support this and I’m really delighted to see it come forward,” said Southcott.

Council unanimously carried the motion for the budget amendment for the federal grant for the mid-level connector.

During question period at the meeting, Gow stated that the planned mid-level connector path would be three metres wide and have a gravel surface.

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