The City of Nanaimo is working on planning around several major capital projects and council will start deciding this year about which projects will go ahead and when.
City staff presented Nanaimo’s city councillors with a general overview of upcoming large capital projects at a special finance and audit committee meeting on Wednesday, March 29. The main projects focused on have been discussed over several years and include a new Nanaimo operations centre to house public works and parks operations, a new RCMP detachment, a waterfront walkway connecting Departure Bay Beach to the Departure Bay B.C. Ferries terminal, and a south-end community centre.
Jake Rudolph, the city’s chief administrative officer, listed some of the rationale behind replacing the public works yard structures, some of which date back to the mid 1960s.
“We’ve outgrown some of the space that we have. There’s environmental issues attached to the [Nanaimo operations centre] complex that are not meeting current standards to our satisfaction,” he said. “There’s gender issues with respect to facilities and not having access for our female workforce. There’s seismic issues. There’s a lack of capacity in our current garage complex for the number of bays that we need and the size of the bays that we need and the working conditions now as we move to a green fleet scenario.”
The RCMP detachment, built in the 1980s, is now about one-third undersized for Nanaimo’s current needs.
“We have a contractual obligation, through our contract with the RCMP, to provide a facility that meets their standards … we’re currently outsourcing some of the space into two other buildings for the current needs of the detachment and it’s functionality is somewhat compromised by the way it’s laid out,” Rudolph said.
Building new facilities and upgrading existing ones will come at a steep cost. Some, such as the ops centre, will have to be done in several phases spaced over nearly a decade.
“It’s a large, complex project,” said Poul Rosen, city director of engineering. “In 2021 it was estimated to be in the neighbourhood of $125 million. We haven’t updated that number, but I anticipate it’s going to be more than that if we were to cost that out right now.”
To mitigate costs and “eat the proverbial elephant one piece at a time,” Rosen said the first phase of the project could be construction of a fleet maintenance facility and support infrastructure. He said staff will come back to council with an update on that with a cost estimate.
Bill Corsan, city director of corporate and business development, said the plan is for the Nanaimo RCMP detachment to be upgraded by renovating existing structures over a five-year period to deal with immediate space needs, followed by construction of a new detachment adjacent to the existing building. Total project cost estimate is estimated at $80-100 million.
“The current location is actually the preferred location, but it is a bit of a challenge to build on that site because you have to keep existing operations going while you build a new facility,” Rosen said.
Construction could start as early as 2026.
The Departure Bay section of the waterfront walkway construction, based on plans from 2019, could cost $30-38 million, Rosen said.
Richard Harding, general manager for parks, recreation and culture, said a south-end community centre would benefit the Nanaimo region, not just the south end, similar to the Oliver Woods Community Centre in north Nanaimo.
“Depending on our partnerships, who we have, the building could be anywhere from 40,000 square feet to 60,000, even 65,000 square feet … these facilities support a variety of organizations and groups, but it also would be central to the south end to provide services there,” Harding said.
Cost for the project could range anywhere between $40-80 million. A design concept and building site has yet to be chosen and a feasibility study is underway.
Council will have to approve any of the projects, which will likely be funded through long-term borrowing, which will also require approval of the electorate via referendum or alternative-approval process.
“This is where the real money hits the road…” said Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog. “We’re talking, potentially, up to $380 million in borrowing, based on speculative figures today, for things, some which some will see as absolutely necessary – and I think many of us do – and others will see as discretionary and not necessarily important for the city, but that will be decided during future discussions.”
A staff report suggested council may be asked to make “key decisions” about Phase 1 of the operations centre by midway through this year.
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chris.bush@nanaimobulletin.com
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