City of Powell River council will consider doubling its chances to procure government funding for a mid-level active transportation corridor between the Powell River Recreation Complex and Brooks Secondary School.
At the May 3 committee of the whole meeting, sustainability planner Ana Lukyanova brought forward a second grant funding proposal for the connector. According to a report from Lukyanova, earlier this year, council supported a grant application for the project through the federal Active Transportation Fund. She stated that the recently announced CleanBC Communities Fund presents another opportunity to acquire funding for the project.
“We want to apply for all of the opportunities we have because if we are not successful in one of the grants, we have more chances of getting funding and getting the project implemented,” said Lukyanova.
She said the new application will be made for exactly the same project with the same budget, but there is a different funding ratio. Under the CleanBC grant, the city’s contribution would be smaller, at just over $200,000, rather than $300,000 under the federal grant. The city’s contribution would come from Powell River Community Forest. Total budget for the multi-use path project is $750,000.
Committee chair George Doubt said councillors were looking at a parallel application.
“We would have two applications going at the same time for the same project,” said Doubt. “We have two chances to win. One of them requires less of a contribution from the city.”
Mayor Dave Formosa asked what happens if the city receives approval from both sources.
Lukyanova said for the funding, there are stacking rules, so the city could not draw from both.
“It’s either one or the other,” added Lukyanova. “What we anticipate will happen is for the first one [federal], the decisions will be announced first, in about September or October. If we are successful in this one, we’ll have to accept it and withdraw the second application.
“Should we not get the one in the fall, then we still have this application in progress for the second one and we’ll know next spring.”
The committee gave unanimous consent to send the second application to city council for approval.
