Water project price grows, city ponders how to pay

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This article was published 04/12/2023 (708 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A proposal that developers help pay for gravity mains for the southwest lift station project will be put to city council tonight as part of a city administration report on funding for the controversial multi-million-dollar endeavour.

Initially, the price tag for the project was about $25 million, states the report, which is attached to the agenda for Monday night’s meeting, and administration thought the city could pay for the gravity main portion itself. However, the report states the overall price tag for the project — consisting of two lift stations with gravity and force mains — has since swollen to $31 million.

“As estimates climbed, council requested the city look for developer contributions to enable the project to proceed,” reads the report, which suggests discussion of the matter be deferred to the Dec. 18 meeting.

Gravity mains transport wastewater through the power of gravity, while forcemains force the passage of water using pressure.

Earlier this year, Brandon City Council narrowly approved a first phase of borrowing for the project worth $18 million by a margin of six votes to five.

The report states that the lift stations and forcemains aspect of the project is estimated to cost around $21.565 million with the gravity mains phase costing around $7.8 million.

Five funding scenarios for the gravity mains were discussed, and administration is recommeding a scenario that would require developers to build and pay for gravity mains running through, or located internally to, development. Instances of oversized construction would receive financial assistance through the city’s development cost charges program.

The development cost charges program has developers make financial contributions towards infrastructure that will benefit the projects they are building. The rates have not been raised since they were first introduced in 2018.

A study reviewing the program and suggesting increases to the charges was originally supposed to be completed by the end of 2022 but has yet to be finished.

The following proposals for funding gravity mains were rejected by administration:

• Having the city use loans to pay for the entire cost of gravity mains that would be located in rights of way adjacent to developments. Loans would be paid back over time using money from the development cost charges program.

• Having the city use loans to pay for gravity mains built through, and internally to, developments but have each applicable developer contribute $1 million. Again, the loans portion of this model would be paid back over time through the development cost charges. (Note, developers themselves outright rejected this idea, the report states).

• A proposal that would have seen gravity mains through, and internal to, developments that are built and funded entirely by developers, who would receive credits through the development cost charges program; and

• A proposal that would have seen gravity mains entirely built and funded by developers.

In terms of the project’s overall cost, the city has secured $3.9 million from the provincial government through the Strategic Municipal Investment Fund. That’s the extent of external funding the city has obtained. The rest of the project is to be paid for through debentures that administration states will be paid off over time through development cost charges.

While Brandon has also applied for grant funding through the Manitoba Water Services Board, administration’s report states “at this time, no funding has been identified.”

ALSO ON TONIGHT’S AGENDA

Also at Monday’s meeting, Coun. Shawn Berry (Ward 7) will present a motion calling for the chicanes installed on Durum Drive as a traffic-calming measure to be removed. As the Sun reported last month, the chicanes have drawn the ire of area residents, who believe they will cause more problems than they will solve.

Another agenda item on traffic will see Coun. Tyson Tame (Ward 10) present a petition from residents in his ward requesting that Brandon prohibit parking on the south side of Portola Drive between First Street and Hedin Crescent, as an apartment complex being built on the north side of the drive is expected to increase the number of parked cars there; parking on both sides of the street would limit lines of sight and be a safety concern. Documents attached to the agenda show 110 signatures attached to the petition.

City administration will present a motion calling for council to approve $58,000 in funding so that the Western Manitoba Regional Library’s branch in downtown Brandon can continue to employ a full-time security guard, and another motion to waive $17,100 in fees related to the demolition of the YWCA’s defunct Meredith Place transitional housing facility.

Ross Robinson and Antoinette Gravel-Ouelette will give an update on the Community Wellness Collaborative, while Dean Hammond and Terry Jaenen will tell councillors about winter recreation activities at the Riverbank Discovery Centre.

There will also be presentations from Habitat for Humanity and the Wheat City Curling Classic as well as votes on five bylaws, including one updating the city’s vacant and derelict buildings bylaw.

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