City council approves funds to replace aging equipment at Powell River Recreation Complex

City of Powell River Council has approved the expenditure of up to $75,000 for the replacement of three oil separators at Powell River Recreation Complex.

At a May 5 meeting, councillor George Doubt said the project of $75,000 came from grant funding. He said there is a need to upgrade the oil separators, which have deteriorated and aged faster than expected.

“This will be an asset and will save oil and help the environment,” said Doubt.

Mayor Dave Formosa said the recreation complex is an older, well-used and appreciated building.

“Through our climate change mitigation and adaptation committee, and through our sustainability planner Ana Lukyanova, a tremendous amount of work has been done replacing many of the components that were basically half, and in some cases, 75 per cent paid by grants we were able to acquire through the works of our staff,” said Formosa. “With our Powell River Community Forest, which was able to back us up for these big monies, these are fantastic wins for our community and they pay back, in some cases, quite large, in savings monthly.

“We have a plan for that recreation complex and know that it has issues, but we’re on top of it. Staff and council and the finance department are on top of it and we will bite it off, a bite at a time.”

Council gave unanimous approval for the expenditure.

A staff report stated that toward the end of 2021 and through routine maintenance procedures, maintenance staff at the complex started to notice increased consumption of oil by the ice refrigeration plant compressors that compress ammonia refrigerant. Staff and refrigeration mechanics sourced the problem to the oil separators.

“As a result, staff are required to manually drain the oil from the chillers on a regular basis and then recycle accordingly, thus increasing oil consumption,” the report stated.

The oil separators were originally scheduled to be replaced in 2025, but staff recommended this asset be replaced in 2022.

Money for the project will come from the Canada Community-Building Fund.