Construction to cause Imperial Street closures

This week in council, a variety of topics were discussed, including new pool covers, updating water mains, and laneway improvements.

Mayor Mike Hurley was not present at council on July 10, and Coun. Pietro Calendino took over as chair.

Central Park water main upgrades

After 90 years, the Central Park water main is undergoing improvements as it has reached the end of its life. The main is 12 kilometres long, with 7km of those being in Burnaby, and it is in the process of being replaced.

The project is now moving into its second phase, Imperial Section, after the first phase, the Salisbury/18th Section phase, is being wrapped up. Council saw a presentation about the upcoming phases.

The Imperial Section is 3.4km long and has been split into two sub-phases. The first sub-phase will cover the area starting at MacPherson Avenue and extending to Elwell Street and Griffith Avenue, a 1.7km stretch.

The first sub-phase will be divided into 200m to 300m work sections as the teams move along the water main. Due to the size of the water main, it will require lane closures along Imperial Street.

Staff has advised that one lane can be open during working hours, and two can be open after working hours.

As the team moves east across Kingsway, new challenges are posed by the smaller roads.

“It's very busy in terms of utilities, existing utilities, the available corridor for the water main is very limited. And so it's going to be very difficult to undertake the work and keep the road open at the same time,” said Ben Suleiman, lead senior engineer.

It has been proposed that the road be closed at the section that is being worked on in these areas.

There are discussions ongoing with the city with multiple options for when the construction will take place, which include working on weekends or working continuously.

It was also outlined how they plan to address resident concerns, such as noise.

“Some of the mitigation measures include noise barriers at Empress Avenue where we're going to have one of the valve chambers shrouding generators located near homes to minimize noise impacts and scheduling the noisiest activities later in the day. We're also going to be conducting noise audits near the work zones to ensure that it complies with the city of Burnaby noise bylaws,” said Nermine Tawfik, community engagement supervisor.

Coun. Sav Dhaliwal raised concerns about the closing of three lanes along Imperial Street while undergoing construction and advised that he would like to see at least two lanes open.

Coun. Dhaliwal also expressed that he would like to see parameters put into place to encourage that construction be completed in a timely manner.

“I’ve seen some of the projects that have been lingering for weeks and months and work not even happening. I don't see no workers there.…So I think we need to make sure that the work days are accounted for. And I go this far to say to staff if the projects really are working, there ought to be charges. First of all, we should charge for the lane usage. This is not a free thing,” he said.

Coun. Calendino echoed similar concerns about construction time.

“We need to be very alert, and the wording in your contract is to be very strict, and you said you have incentives, but you should also have penalties,” he said.

Staff noted that it was one of the aspects that were looked at during the request for proposal phase and that they are working with both incentives and penalties to ensure timely project completion.

Central Park pool cover discussion

The discussion surrounding the proposed Central Park pool cover returned to council again at this meeting. This time, it was to show the two proposed options for moving forward with the pool cover.

The first option was to cover the pool only. The proposal outlined that there would be some limitations to this, such as additional operating costs to rent temporary facilities (washrooms, change rooms) as the current ones do not have water in the winter. The cost of the cover would come to $3,675,000.

The second option was to cover the pool and change rooms with a pre-engineered, winterized steel building. This would include insulated steel panels and an HVAC system, providing a heated swimming environment. This structure could also be disassembled and moved in the future. The cost for this cover would be $7,350,000.

James Lota, general manager of lands and facilities, told council that it would cost an estimated $500,000 to $600,000 to move the larger cover once Central Park pool reaches the end of its life.

While discussing the options, Coun. Daniel Tetrault brought forward the question of how flexible the design for a future pool in the area might be, considering that the current pool has a lifespan of 5-10 years and how a pool cover could be reused.

Staff responded that the current 5-10 year lifespan projection is based on seasonal use only and that there could be additional mechanical stress on the parts.

Coun. Tetrault proposed a referral for staff to come back with further information relating to the pool's lifespan and other contexts.

The referral was passed unanimously.

Lane paving program

A motion came to council that would provide a contract award to B.A. Blacktop Infrastructure to complete an estimated $2,536,970 worth of lane paving as part of the weather repaving program.

This would include the installation of:

• Approximately 3,300 metric tonnes of roadway asphalt

• 16,000 square metres of full-depth milling

• 1,100 lineal metres of asphalt drainage curb

• Concrete sidewalk letdowns and driveways

• Landscaping and restoration work

The repairs will be focused on these areas:

• Cambridge Street to Dundas Street

• North Grosvenor Crescent to Cambridge Street

• Carleton Avenue to Gilmore Avenue

• North Carleton Avenue to North Gilmore Avenue

• North Carleton Avenue to North Madison Avenue

• North Rosser Avenue to North Willingdon Avenue

• Parkwood Crescent to Baker Crescent

• Grassmere Street to Burke Street

• Carson Street, McGregor Avenue, Patrick Street

• McGregor Avenue to end of street

• 11th Avenue to 4th Street

• Westminster Avenue to Royal Oak Avenue

• Royal Oak Avenue to Douglas Road

• David Drive to Willoughby Avenue

Coun. Dhaliwal asked for clarification about the scope of these repairs, and whether the laneways and alleys in these areas would be completely repaved.

“Staff took the time earlier this year to go inspect and look at the condition of lanes, concrete barriers, sidewalks, and so this is more of a spot repair to determine which lanes need to be repaved. And so the majority of the work is very specific to the condition in that area. It's not to say that it doesn't include full lanes between the two locations. But they are very specific to the weather damage that was incurred from last year,” responded staff.

Staff also clarified that residents will be updated later as to exactly which laneways and other areas will be undergoing repaving.

Coun. Richard Lee also brought up the question of if the city will be using accessible sidewalk let-downs for the visually impaired.

“We actually updated our city standard specification drawings to have a consistent sidewalk, concrete let-down so that the impressions on the way the precast concrete is laid out, there'll be lines that are directional lines, for those who are vision-impaired, they will know the direction in which way the letdown is going. So we just made that update. And so, as part of this rehabilitation program, we will be incorporating the new standards for that,” responded staff.

Staff also confirmed that the corrugated concrete that has been proposed provides a surface tactical ability that will help people who are vision impaired.

The recommendation was moved unanimously.

BC Parkway discussion

Coun. Dhaliwal pulled this item from the agenda for discussion. Coun. Dhaliwal stated that he was supportive of the motion but was looking for clarification about the expansion parameters.

This report is related to the BC Parkway Expansion Project, which is aiming to transform the section of the BC Parkway in the Metrotown area into a fully linear park. The project focuses on the section between Kingsway and Royal Oak Station.

Coun. Dhaliwal raised a concern about this area allocation. He was looking for assurance that this would actually go to Boundary Road, and requested that a gateway be put up at Boundary Road to advise people that they are now entering the BC Parkway walkway.

“I wanted to mention that one because I think the issue is about crossing Kingsway. It’s a great walkway all the way from obviously New Westminster, but once you get to Kingsway, it kind of, sort of fizzles out because you don't know where to go anymore,” he stated.

He requested that staff look at creating a pedestrian crossing at Kingsway.

“It is a multi-billion dollar project to promote cycling, remote walking, other modes of walking, etcetera. But if you have to sort of go jog around on a sidewalk somewhere, it breaks the continuity of amenity that we're going to spend a lot of time on,” he continued.

General manager Loto responded to Coun. Dhaliwal’s concerns, stating that the intention is to go to Boundary Road and that it was more of an administrative oversight not to include it in the report.

The motion was passed unanimously.