By Tyler Marr

Pushback pauses paving proposal

Sep 26, 2017 | 5:00 PM

A line was drawn in the asphalt over a proposal to fast-track the paving of the South parking lot at the Art Hauser Centre at city council Monday.

With unusually warm weather in the city, contractors made more progress then expected on road repair and repaving projects, which freed them up to complete work on the lot this year. It was initially slated for a 2018 end date.

To do the work now, $277,000 is needed, and city staff suggested it come out of the Roadway’s Paving Program but be replenished in the 2018 budget. As the project is under-budget and the Marquis Road expansion was curbed, there would be no additional costs. Staff said not bringing the move forward would be a missed opportunity.

Sticking fingers into the roadway’s fund was not a welcomed move for many councillors who said it is a “sacred” fund the city has promised residents to only be used for streets and not parking lots.

Though the money would be replaced, Coun. Ted Zurakowski said, “the argument is sound but this is a roadways base tax for our streets.”

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“You ask one of your neighbours and they will come up with two or three [streets] that they believe need to be done,” he added.

Though consensus about the fund’s usage was shared around the table, Mayor Greg Dionne was wary of the timeline for a number of reasons and wanted to get the parking lot paving done. Dionne made note how June was plagued with wet weather and delayed a number of projects. He said if this trend pops up next year, the lot may not be done in time for the 2018 World Junior Men’s Softball tournament.

“When the world arrives, I want our city to shine in July,” Dionne said. 

The city, Dionne said, only has “one bank account” and suggested using the scarcely called upon “positive variants” line item to ease anxieties over where the money was coming from.

Dionne and a number of other councillors were further concerned about the damage that could be done to the packed top layer over the winter and the possible cost increase in 2018.

However, Councillors Charlene Miller and Blake Edwards highlighted how in the report and through personal conversations, the contractor suggests the lot sit for one year before paving.

“When I asked a few people on why we weren’t paving this… and the response I received was they needed to see how it lasted over the winter,” he said.

Edwards pointed out how the lot was built on what is essentially a swamp and with major earth moving completed, heaving was a concern.

“Are we rushing it? I would like a professional opinion,” Edwards asked. “I think we have done a few projects that we didn’t do correct so let’s do this one correct. I would support it but I am concerned about the timing.”

When it came time to vote, a 5-4 decision killed the plan. 

Dionne called a point of order and called for a revote, saying it was not made clear to some members that defeat meant it would not come back to council with more information.

But this was shot down by Coun. Evert Botha who was the meeting’s chair, saying after “almost 11 months at council, we do understand the concept that if a motion was defeated, it was defeated.”

Dionne rebuked hinting he may bring the proposal back as a notice of motion at a later council meeting.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr