Council approves $267M for phase two of Cameron Community Centre

Burnaby Council’s meeting on July 22 started with a presentation by a delegation from the Burnaby Community Assembly, which presented the assembly’s recommendations. Chair of the assembly, Robin Prest, along with assembly members Selena Di, Joseph Rzeplinski, and Jess Li, introduced recommendations related to accessibility, transit, and affordable housing. 

Mayor Mike Hurley said the assembly’s work was significant, but he added that the other orders of government need to contribute to improving Burnaby’s housing affordability.

“The affordable piece for the city is we can take a certain portion of affordability, but we can’t get there on our own. We need the other orders of government to step up,” Hurley said. “For example, we have many sites that we have passed through really quickly to have affordable housing built on, but we still wait for funding from the other orders of government. While we can do our very best, and we do our very best every day, we need others to cooperate to meet those targets that you’re suggesting.” 

“It takes a village to make housing happen,” Hurley added.  

Cameron Community Centre and Library project to cost $267M

Council approved the second phase of the Cameron Community Centre and Library, which is estimated to cost $267M. The council report from the July 22 meeting noted the original budget for the project was $227M. 

According to a presentation by Charles Allen, the city’s director of civic building projects, and Jeff Mitchell, a consultant and senior associate at Diamond Schmitt Architects, the new Cameron Community Centre will be four times the size of the old one and will include a library, swimming pools, and a double gym, among other features. 

Some of the more unique features of the new centre will be solar panels, a green roof at a cost of $1.7M, and a sensory quiet room for neurodiverse people. It is forecasted to use 30% less energy than similar facilities. The new centre will also include 288 parking spaces at a cost of $23.4M ($81,100 per stall). 

Construction on the project is expected to be completed in 2027, and the facility will be operational in early 2028. 

Coun. Richard Lee expressed concerns about the cost and asked about the possibility of keeping the temporary library in the Lougheed Mall since it has been very successful. Lee wanted to know the possible cost of building a separate library, to which the mayor said Lee was a bit late to the game with his inquiry. Chief administrative officer Leon Gous added that the whole mall will eventually be demolished, and its site is up for redevelopment. 

“I support this project, but I am a bit concerned about the cost itself,” Lee said.

Coun. Sav Dhaliwal expressed his support for the project, calling it “long overdue.” 

“The northeast quadrant was without a pool for all this time,” he said. “I believe the work that has been done by the staff and expert panel gives me assurance that, yes, these costs that are presented in front of us are reasonable.”

An extra $3M for fire stations 4 and 8

Two days after the official opening of Fire Station 4 on Burnaby Mountain, the project, which was supposedly completed on budget, returned to council for more funding, along with its sister project, Fire Station 8. 

According to a report submitted to council, the additional $2,998,087 will be for upgrades to the fire stations. The report outlined three main categories of changes. The first is an upgrade to the IT rooms in each fire station to “enable the City of Burnaby to utilize it as an emergency operations/emergency communication centre ($647,152 excluding GST).” 

The second upgrade will be to the fuel management system. 

“Fuel Pump Station Upgrades to meet both the City of Burnaby and Fire Department Requirements ($727,743 excluding GST),” the report said. “It was requested by the City of Burnaby and the Fire Department that a new fuel storage tank system is required for vehicle dispensing and supply to an emergency generator system at the Burnaby Fire Hall No.4 and Burnaby Fire Hall No.8.” 

After conducting an archaeological impact assessment (AIA), an archaeological site was identified at the location of Fire Station 8, located near SFU on Burnaby Mountain. The site, DhRr-932, cannot be altered without a site alteration permit from the province, and the fieldwork required to obtain the permit will cost $1,172,055, excluding GST, according to the council report. 

“Site avoidance is not feasible, based on the requirement of the Firehall design, and partial impacts to the archaeological site are planned,” the report said. 

The archaeological site the report identified is approximately 575 cubic metres and the volume of soil within the five-metre buffer area, is approximately 425 cubic metres.  

Finally, Fire Station 8 needs a traffic light, which will cost $308,372, excluding GST. 

“Having the traffic light is essential to control the flow of traffic, allowing fire trucks to move in or out of the fire station without obstruction,” said the council report. 

Council recognizes Chris Bowcock for his service 

Before the end of the meeting, the mayor presented Burnaby Fire Chief Chris Bowcock with a wrapped gift for his service. 

“Chief Bowcock is with us tonight, and I know that it’s his last council meeting, and I would like to invite him up to the podium to be recognized and to present him with a small token of our appreciation for his 30 years of service,” Hurley said.

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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