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Port Alberni will look at gas tax funding for Johnston Road improvements

Other gas tax applications include watermain replacement, asset management program
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The city of Port Alberni will send three applications to the federal gas tax strategic priorities fund, including a project to improve Johnston Road corridor. Susie Quinn photo

The city of Port Alberni will send three applications to the federal gas tax strategic priorities fund, including a project to improve Johnston Road corridor.

During a Monday, May 8 meeting of city council, Scott Smith, the director of development services, brought forward a completed report that covered what came out of the Johnston Road Charrette workshop that took place last fall.

The report came up with 20 major recommendations, with a number of sub-recommendations, and included conceptual plans and cost estimates for potential implementations.

“It is being recommended that this be one of the projects that we would make an application to the gas tax strategic priority plan,” said Smith. “We can take a run at implementing the majority of what’s proposed in this study. If that was not successful, staff would bring foward short, mid-term implementation projects for council’s consideration for future financial plans.”

City CAO Tim Pley said that city staff is allowed to pick three applications for the fund, which will be potentially 100 percent funded, up to a maximum of six million dollars. Two of the applications are allowed to be capital infrastructure project applications, and one is an application for capacity building.

“The Johnston Road Charrette issue is something we’re excited by,” said Pley. “The problem you have is how to fund something like that. Here’s an opportunity that we could apply for the lion’s share of that work in one fell swoop.”

Pley said that an application for implementing the Johnston Road Charrette improvements would be in the neighbourhood of six million dollars, but they would look at maximizing that grant opportunity.

“One of the things that is very attractive in my mind around this project is that it’s application ready,” he said. “We are able to very quickly put together a compelling application for this project. The work has been done.”

A second capital infrastructure project is replacing the cast iron watermain between the Burde Street reservoir and the upper Cowichan reservoir.

“It’s already in our plan to replace,” said Pley. “We’ve done several water system studies over the years that have indicated this pipe needs to be replaced. It was installed in 1963. While it’s not as attractive as the Johnston Road corridor, it’s a very significant piece of infrastructure for us. If we were to get a grant for that, that frees up that amount of money for other infrastructure projects.”

The capacity building application would be related to asset management. “In our strategic plan, we wanted to develop an asset management plan program,” said Pley. “And we received some money from them to do some preliminary work. We’re ready to go to the next phase.”

City council agreed to send these three applications to the federal gas tax strategic priorities fund.

The deadline for applications is June 1.

elena.rardon@albernivalleynews.com



Elena Rardon

About the Author: Elena Rardon

I have worked with the Alberni Valley News since 2016.
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