City of Powell River council will consider allocating funding to restore the sea walk, which was damaged by a high tide and windstorm in January.
At the April 28 city finance committee meeting, director of parks, recreation and culture Tara O’Donnell appeared to request council approve $400,000 in matching funding for the sea walk restoration project, to be funded from the Canada Community-Building Fund reserve. The other 50 per cent would come from Powell River Community Forest, according to O’Donnell’s report.
O’Donnell said this past winter, the sea walk sustained significant damage.
“Because the sea walk is such an important trail system in our community, the asset should be restored in a timely manner,” said O’Donnell. “The parks, recreation and culture department has already undertaken some work for phase one of the project, which brought the trail to a usable standard.
“If you’ve been down there, you’ll see people who are on it. We’ve removed major obstructions, added some crushed rock and made it generally smooth enough to walk on, but it can best be described as rough but usable condition. There still is significant erosion and an undermining on the ocean side.”
O’Donnell said phase two of the project would aim at bringing the asset back to pre-damage condition. She said the rebuilding would involve raising the sea walk so it can withstand more severe weather and tidal events.
“That has a lot to do with global warming,” said O’Donnell. “We can expect that we may see more weather events like this in the future. Our goal would involve stabilizing the slope on the ocean side, raising up the trail, adding some drainage, and finally, surfacing the trail to bring it right back to where it was.”
O’Donnell said project management would be led by city staff and equipment work would be contracted locally wherever possible. She said an estimated timeline would involve beginning permitting and assessments in May, and ideally, completion would be by late fall.
“Given the heavy use of the sea walk, public notice and communication would be important throughout the restoration process,” added O’Donnell.
Community forest application
Mayor Dave Formosa asked if an application had been made to the community forest and if there had been acceptance. O’Donnell said an application has been submitted for the spring intake and approval is being awaited.
Formosa asked if the project would go from one end of the sea walk to the other. O’Donnell said she would have to get back to him on that and she would work with her project management team.
“I know there are very specific areas for sure on the ocean side that do require lifting,” said O’Donnell.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said she walks the trail just about every day and in her opinion, it’s in excellent condition, considering the beating it took over the winter.
“Staff really quickly got it back to usable shape,” said Hathaway. “You could pave it, but it would lose all of its ambiance. I think it’s an amazing trail. You have to watch where you’re going because the odd rock pops up but it’s in really good shape now.”
O’Donnell said certain areas have been eroded more than others. She said realistically, with weather changes happening as they are, the biggest concern is that if the sea walk was just resurfaced without being raised, another storm surge could come with a king tide, and the city could be potentially throwing the resurfacing money away with the rock being washed away.
Finance committee chair George Doubt said it’s money well spent to make the improvements, and that accessibility is a consideration.
“I support this 100 per cent,” added Doubt. “It’s doing logical things to protect the sea walk, which is a valuable asset to the community, and it improves it where it can be used by everybody, so I’m going to back this.”
Formosa also said he supported the proposal. The finance committee voted to send the proposed $400,000 expenditure to city council for consideration.
